What is a Lottery?

A lottery is a form of gambling wherein players pay a small price in order to have a chance of winning big amounts of money. Financial lotteries are commonly run by governments as a way of raising funds to fund public programs. This video explains the concept of lottery in a simple, easy to understand way for kids & beginners. It can be used as a kids & personal finance learning resource for a school or community financial literacy program.

While casting lots for determining fates has a long history (including several instances in the Bible), the modern state-run lottery is a recent development. It was first introduced in the United States after World War II. In this era of anti-tax sentiment, the idea of government drawing from a pool of citizens to fund the social safety net was attractive. Lotteries could help raise money without burdening middle-class and working-class taxpayers.

As a result, most state governments have lotteries with broad and sustained public approval. But there are several problems with state government’s dependence on lottery revenues.

One is that the lottery draws heavily from a specific constituency: convenience store owners; lottery suppliers (who make large contributions to state political campaigns); teachers (in states where a portion of lottery revenues are earmarked for education); and state legislators. Lotteries also promote a false sense of economic fairness. Super-sized jackpots attract widespread media coverage and engender the belief that all Americans have an equal chance of winning.