A lottery is a process wherein numbers or symbols are drawn at random and the winners receive prizes based on that drawing. This is the same as a raffle and the prize money is usually money, though sometimes items or services can be offered.

Lottery is an ancient form of gambling, dating back to the Roman Empire (Nero was a big fan) and the biblical tradition of casting lots for everything from the next king of Israel to who gets Jesus’ garments after his crucifixion. It’s also found throughout America’s early history, where George Washington managed a lottery whose prizes included human beings and one enslaved man won a lottery ticket that led to his freedom and fomented the slave rebellion in Virginia.

In modern times, lotteries are typically conducted by selling tickets for a chance to win a prize. The process involves writing a name on a ticket or some other symbol, depositing it for later shuffling and selection in the lottery’s drawing, and then determining who won the prize based on those results. Modern lotteries often involve computers or other methods for recording the identity of bettor, amount staked, and selected number(s) or symbols.

When it comes to state-sponsored lotteries, they’re a little different in that the money raised for states is used for a specific service such as education, elder care or public parks. And that’s where Cohen’s story really begins, in the nineteen sixties, when growing awareness of all the money to be made in the gambling business collided with a crisis in state funding.