A competition based on chance, in which numbered tickets are sold for the opportunity to win a prize. Frequently used as a means of raising funds for public projects and charities.
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, as America’s new banking and taxation systems were still evolving, lotteries served an important role in boosting state budgets. They helped to build everything from prisons and jails to hospitals, railroads, and roads. Founders like thomas jefferson and benjamin franklin even held private lotteries to retire their debts, and Franklin sponsored a lottery to raise funds for cannons to defend Philadelphia against the British.
Today, however, critics have two main arguments against lotteries. The first is that they are a form of “voluntary” taxation, which violates the principle that people should pay taxes only when their money is needed for public purposes. The second argument is that lotteries prey on the illusory hopes of poor people, and that this imposes a disproportionate burden on those least able to afford it.
Most, but not all, states have a lottery program that collects a small percentage of the total amount of money spent on ticket purchases. The money is then awarded to a winner, usually in the form of a cash prize or goods. This article examines the operation and impact of these programs, with a focus on their impact on poor and working class people. It concludes that the state lottery has a long history of operating in a closed system where public officials have limited ability to address its social consequences.
