Lottery is a form of gambling where people choose numbers or symbols that correspond with particular prizes, such as cash or goods. The practice is most popular in the United States, where Americans spend over $100 billion a year on lottery tickets. While making decisions and determining fates by chance has a long history in human culture, the modern lottery is a relatively recent invention, with the first recorded public lottery held during the reign of Augustus Caesar for municipal repairs in Rome.

The main argument used to promote state lotteries is that they raise money for specific public benefits, such as education, that would otherwise be unobtainable without imposing a high tax burden on the general population. Studies show that this argument is especially effective in times of economic stress, when voters are concerned about the need for government spending cuts or higher taxes. However, it is important to note that lottery revenue is only a small fraction of total state revenue, and is even smaller when considering the efficiency with which it is collected.

In fact, most of the money that lottery players pay is returned to them in the form of prize checks or other prizes. Only a small percentage of ticket sales goes to the state, and most of that is spent on administrative costs. As such, it is very difficult to justify the amount of money that state lotteries cost taxpayers in terms of the broader social welfare that they provide.