The practice of making decisions and determining fates by casting lots has a long history, including several instances in the Bible. In ancient Rome, lottery games were popular dinner entertainments and were used to give away property and slaves. And in the seventeenth century it was common for Dutch state-owned lotteries to collect money for charity and a variety of public uses. Benjamin Franklin held a lottery in 1776 to raise funds for the defense of Philadelphia and Thomas Jefferson tried a private lottery to pay his crushing debts.
These days, lotteries are a common form of gambling. They generate billions of dollars per year for states and the prize amounts can be huge, ranging from a car or house to a fortune. But there are many controversies about the impact of lottery play on society. The most important issue is the extent to which lottery profits are used for social good. Some governments outlaw it and others endorse it, creating a hybrid system that requires state approval to participate in and is regulated by the government at the same time.
The first problem is the fact that lottery revenues tend to expand rapidly and then level off or even decline over time. Revenue growth is driven by a combination of the popularity of the game and state officials’ inability to control demand. The latter is often exacerbated by a lack of overall oversight, with authority and pressures distributed among different state agencies and legislative and executive branches.