The practice of distributing property or other material goods by casting lots has a long history, including a number of instances in the Bible and ancient Roman lotteries. But public lotteries with tickets for prize money are somewhat more recent: they began in the Low Countries in the 15th century, primarily for the purpose of raising funds for town repairs or to help the poor.

Most people who play the lottery do so with some level of awareness that it is a game of chance and the odds are long. They may even have “quote-unquote” systems that they follow when choosing numbers — like playing birthdays or other personal numbers — that they think will improve their chances of winning. But they also know that there is no guarantee that any particular number will be chosen, and they buy tickets knowing that the average amount of money paid for a ticket is less than the value of the prizes offered.

In the modern era of state-run lotteries, governments at every level have come to rely on them as a source of “painless” revenue — one that can be raised with minimal taxation and without the voters having to give up any of their own hard-earned incomes. This has led to a dynamic where voters want states to spend more, and politicians look at lottery revenues as a way of achieving that without imposing additional taxes. This arrangement is at a breaking point in the United States, where voters and taxpayers are beginning to realize that state government has outgrown its current financial model.