A lottery is a form of gambling in which numbers are drawn at random for a prize. Some governments outlaw lotteries, while others endorse them and organize state or national lottery games. In the United States, lotteries are a popular form of entertainment, with Americans spending an estimated $100 billion a year on tickets.

Lottery officials face a difficult challenge in winning and retaining public approval for their enterprises. Many people criticize lottery policies as being addictive and regressive, but these criticisms tend to focus on specific features of the operation rather than on its general desirability.

One such feature is the distribution of lottery revenues among different segments of society. For example, research suggests that people from low-income neighborhoods participate in lottery games at rates far lower than their percentage of the population, while the rich seem to be less enthusiastic about buying tickets. Another issue is that lottery revenue growth has often leveled off after a period of rapid expansion, prompting the introduction of new games to sustain or increase revenues.

The history of the lottery has also been a story of changing attitudes about gambling and its role in society. Although the casting of lots for decisions and fates has a long record in human history (including several instances in the Bible), public lotteries have been around only since the 15th century, when towns in the Netherlands began to hold them to raise money for town repairs and the poor.