What is a Lottery?
A lottery is a system for awarding prizes by drawing numbers. It is typically conducted by a centralized government agency or private company. A typical lottery involves paying out a large prize, along with many smaller prizes. The total prize value is usually the amount remaining after expenses (including profits for the promoter) and taxes or other revenues have been deducted.
The practice of making decisions and determining fates by lot has a long history, including several instances in the Bible. The first recorded public lotteries that offered tickets for money were held in the Low Countries in the 15th century to raise funds for town fortifications and to help the poor.
People buy lottery tickets with the hope that they will become rich. They will have a chance to change their lives and the life of their families forever. But there’s more to it than that. Lotteries are dangling the prospect of instant riches in a time of inequality and limited social mobility, and they know that it’s an attractive proposition.
The bottom quintile, those at the very bottom of the income distribution, spend a much larger share of their discretionary income than others do on lottery tickets. But they also tend to have a more difficult time affording other necessities, such as housing and education. That is why it’s so troubling when you see the media do a story about how the poor are buying lottery tickets.
