The lottery is an organized game where players pay a small amount to enter a drawing with the hope of winning a larger sum of money. The word “lottery” probably comes from the Dutch word for fate (“lot”). In fact, casting lots for decisions and determining fates through chance has a long record in human history.
State lotteries have become a familiar form of public finance, and they are often hailed as a painless form of taxation that doesn’t unfairly impact lower-income neighborhoods. Yet one study found that the bulk of lottery participants and revenues come from middle-income neighborhoods, while low-income communities are less well represented.
This is likely because the prizes offered by state lotteries tend to be very large. Large jackpots attract the attention of convenience store operators and other vendors that sell tickets; they also draw the attention of teachers (in states where lottery revenues are earmarked for education); state legislators; and others who may be dependent on these new sources of revenue. In other words, the evolution of state lotteries is a classic example of policy making that happens incrementally and piecemeal, with the general welfare being only intermittently taken into consideration.
Lottery advertising is designed to communicate two messages primarily: that it’s fun to play and that the prize money is huge. Both are intended to obscure the regressive nature of the lottery, which is coded into the notion that gambling is a harmless pastime for people who are willing to spend an inordinate amount of time and money on it.