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Lotteries were initially conceived as a way for states to expand their social safety nets without burdening their middle and working classes with especially onerous taxes. And in the immediate postwar period, that arrangement probably did work, Cohen argues.

But soon after, state officials began looking for ways to swell lottery jackpots and attract more gamblers. Super-sized jackpots also give the games a windfall of free publicity on news sites and in newscasts, which helps drive sales.

But a growing number of voters began to object. They worried that state-run gambling would primarily attract black numbers players, who might then foot the bill for services that white voters didn’t want to pay for, like better schools in urban areas they had recently fled. And they feared that the games might be used to lure people into shady financial deals and other schemes.