The official lottery, as in state lotteries, is a form of gambling in which people purchase chances to win money or prizes by chance. These chances are called tickets or entries. Prizes may be cash, goods, services, or even real estate. The lottery is an alternative to traditional forms of gambling such as poker, sports betting, and horse racing. Some governments prohibit state-sponsored lotteries, while others endorse them and regulate them.

The lottery was invented by Europeans. Its first modern incarnation emerged in Italy, where the 1860 national lottery generated large amounts of revenue that helped to fund everything from the Italian Unification to public works projects. Despite this success, the lottery became the object of widespread concern for mismanagement and corruption. Eventually, the lottery was regulated by law and dismantled, with only the Louisiana State Lottery Company remaining.

Cohen argues that the lottery’s current popularity in America began in the late twentieth century, when a growing awareness of all the potential money to be made by lottery operators collided with a crisis in state funding. With population growth and inflation weighing heavily on budgets, many states were struggling to balance their books without raising taxes or cutting services.

For many voters, the lottery offered a way to avoid both of these options. The money that the lottery raised went largely to middle and upper-class Americans, but low income communities were also drawn in. This led to regressive effects, with studies showing that lower-income Americans spend far more of their budgets on instant scratch-off games than higher-income gamblers do.