A gambling game in which numbered tickets are sold and prizes are awarded by chance. The word lottery comes from a Middle Dutch term meaning “drawing lots”; it may also be a calque on the French verb loterie, a variant of the Middle Low German word for “selection by lot.”

Several countries have state-run lotteries. They usually involve a pool of money from ticket sales, from which the prize winners are chosen by drawing lots. The prize amounts vary, but the odds of winning are very low and often predetermined. Some of the prizes are large sums of money. Others are valuable goods, services, or land. In the United States, state lotteries are popular and widespread.

Although people enjoy the fantasy of becoming rich by buying a lottery ticket, human nature makes it very difficult for them to understand how unlikely it is to win. As a result, they are swayed by glitzy advertising and misleading statistics.

Many people feel that a lottery is an acceptable way to raise money for certain public purposes. They argue that the proceeds benefit society without taxing citizens. But this view is flawed. The funds that state lotteries collect are not free, and they can have serious consequences.

Moreover, a state lottery is a classic example of policymaking by piecemeal and incremental steps, with little or no overall overview. The evolution of a lottery is influenced by a variety of specific constituencies, including convenience store owners (whose businesses thrive on the revenues); lottery suppliers and vendors (who make substantial contributions to political campaigns); teachers, in states where lottery revenues are earmarked for education; and state legislators, who soon become dependent on them.