A lottery is a game of chance where participants pay a small amount to be given a larger sum, such as money or property. Lotteries date back to ancient times and have been used for everything from land distribution in the Old Testament to the awarding of slaves in Rome. In the modern world, government-sponsored lotteries offer people a chance to win a prize by paying a small amount for the opportunity to enter a drawing. Modern lotteries have become very popular, especially in the United States.

The prevailing message from lottery commissions is that playing the lottery is fun, and this makes it easy for some to ignore how regressive it is. Moreover, the idea that winning the lottery is like a little game of chance obscures how much many players spend on tickets.

Historically, governments have promoted lotteries as a way of raising funds for a variety of projects. For example, Benjamin Franklin used a lottery to raise money to build a battery of cannons in Philadelphia during the Revolutionary War. Lotteries have also helped fund bridges, the construction of the British Museum and the rebuilding of Faneuil Hall in Boston.

In the US, lottery revenues are a significant source of state income. Some critics of the lottery argue that it is a hidden tax and that the money raised by lotteries could be better spent on things like education, health care and welfare programs. However, some researchers have found that lottery revenues are not as regressive as they are perceived to be. This is because most of the revenue is raised from wealthy households, while the majority of players are middle and working class citizens.