Lotteries have become a familiar part of everyday life in America. It is possible to buy a ticket for a couple of bucks in almost every state, and many people do so frequently. The big reason is that people just plain like to gamble. But lottery marketing also works to exploit the desire to fantasize about wealth and riches in an era of inequality and limited social mobility. It’s no wonder critics say that the lottery is a disguised tax on those who can least afford it.
Although casting lots to determine decisions and fates has a long history (see the Old Testament and the Romans), public lotteries in the modern sense of the word began in 15th-century Burgundy and Flanders as town residents sought money for municipal repairs and for aid to the poor. They were popular in France after Francis I allowed them, and they reached the American colonies where they helped build several of the first great public universities: Harvard, Dartmouth, Yale, King’s College (now Columbia), William and Mary, and Union.
One of the key factors in determining when states adopt lotteries is whether the revenue they raise will be used for a specific public good, such as education. This argument is especially effective in times of economic stress, when governments might otherwise have to raise taxes or cut programs. But studies show that the objective fiscal conditions of the state have little bearing on whether lotteries win broad public approval.