A lottery is any scheme for distributing prizes, especially money, by chance. Lotteries are common in many fields, from deciding who gets units in a subsidized housing block or kindergarten placements at a reputable public school, to the more obvious financial games in which players pay for tickets, select groups of numbers, or have machines randomly spit them out, and win prizes if their numbers match those drawn by chance.
The origin of lotteries is unclear, but the word itself dates to at least the 15th century; it may be a calque on Middle Dutch loterie (of the same meaning), or perhaps from the Latin verb lotire “to divide by lots.” The earliest known lotteries were in the towns of the Low Countries, raising funds for town fortifications and other purposes.
State lotteries are regulated by law and overseen by a state commission or board, with some states delegating responsibility to private corporations to run the game. These companies promote the lottery by generating advertising and managing all other aspects of the business, including selecting retailers, training employees of these retailers to sell and redeem tickets, paying top prize winners, and helping retailers comply with state regulations.
Lotteries are a classic case of public policy being decided piecemeal and incrementally, with little overall overview. And once they are established, they tend to evolve rapidly, fueled by a constant quest for new products to increase revenue and maintain interest. This dynamic is inherently at odds with the more general goals of state government, and it can have negative consequences for the poor and problem gamblers.