The casting of lots to determine ownership or other rights has a long record in human history. In fact, the practice is recorded in ancient documents including the Bible. It is also common in many cultures around the world, and was an important part of colonial-era America, raising money for towns, wars, college scholarships and public-works projects. It was not until the 1970s, however, that lotteries became firmly established in America.

States that have a lottery generally use the funds to support education, or other public needs. Whether this is the right thing to do is an open question, but the argument that a lottery provides painless revenue seems to be a compelling one. The problem is that the lottery promotes gambling. And that can have negative consequences, both for people who play the lottery and for society as a whole.

When a state decides to introduce a lottery, it must also establish rules about how it will promote the games. The promotion of a lottery can involve slick advertising that often includes the promise of instant wealth, but that can mask the regressivity of the games and their effect on low-income people. It is no surprise that people are drawn to these offers of riches, even if the odds are stacked against them. But the way that states promote the lotteries obscures how regressive they are and how much of their revenue comes from low-income households.