Lottery: An activity or competition based on chance in which numbered tickets are sold for a prize, usually money. Each state enacts its own laws governing the lottery, and usually delegated to a lottery board or commission to administer. This includes the selection of retailers, training of retail employees to use lottery terminals, sale and redemption of tickets, payment of top-tier prizes to winners, promoting the lottery, and ensuring that all players and retailers comply with state law and rules.

Lotteries may be good for states whose coffers swell from ticket sales and winners, but they’re not without costs, as Vox has reported on before. Studies show that those who play lotteries are disproportionately low-income, lower-educated, and nonwhite. But they’re also disproportionately addicted to gambling and prone to making bad financial decisions.

The first recorded lotteries offering prizes in the form of money were held in the Low Countries in the 15th century, with town records showing that proceeds went toward building walls and fortifications as well as helping the poor. The lottery became an official government-sponsored activity after World War II, when state governments began to rely on it for revenue and thought they could do so without onerous taxation of middle-class and working people.

As a result, state-run lotteries became popular and helped finance things like roads and schools. In addition, the lottery became an important source of income for people who couldn’t work or didn’t want to work. Today, the lottery continues to be an important way for people to make a little bit of money and, sometimes, to change their lives.