A lottery is a game in which people pay a small amount of money to win a prize, such as a cash prize or a car. The practice of making decisions or determining fates by drawing lots has a long history, including dozens of examples in the Bible and ancient Roman emperors giving away property and slaves by lottery. State lotteries are a modern version of this practice, and they have become wildly popular: Americans spend an estimated $80 billion each year on tickets.

Despite this popularity, the majority of Americans do not know that lotteries are not a good way to make money. Many state lottery games are designed to increase revenues by offering a variety of prizes, including cash, cars, and vacations. Lottery revenues usually expand dramatically after a lottery is introduced, but then level off or even decline. This is why lottery commissions have to constantly introduce new games to maintain and boost revenues.

Nonetheless, the lottery remains an important source of revenue for many states. The reason is that, compared to other types of government revenue sources, it requires very little effort to collect. In addition, it provides an outlet for the public’s desire to gamble. But it is a regressive game: people from poor neighborhoods play at lower rates than those from rich neighborhoods, and those who do participate typically have low expected values. This regressivity is hidden by the fact that lotteries promote themselves as fun, and by coded messages about irrational gamblers who spend huge amounts of their income on tickets.