Lottery is an activity in which the participants have a chance of winning money or other goods by drawing lots. The word is probably from Middle Dutch Lotinge “action of drawing lots” (a calque of the English word lottery). The first state-sponsored lotteries in Europe took place in the Low Countries in the 15th century, raising funds for town fortifications and helping the poor.<\/p>\n
In America, the founding fathers were big on lotteries; Benjamin Franklin ran a lottery in Philadelphia in 1748 to raise money for the city’s militia. John Hancock ran a lottery to help build Boston’s Faneuil Hall and George Washington ran one to fund the construction of a road across Virginia’s mountains. Lotteries remained popular in colonial era America, but eventually fell out of favor with the advent of the federal government.<\/p>\n
Nowadays, lotteries are a major source of revenue for state governments, and they are also wildly popular with the public, with 60% of American adults playing at least once a year. But they are not without their critics, who argue that lotteries function as a hidden tax on the poor, since studies show that low-income Americans play the lottery more than other groups and spend a greater share of their incomes on tickets.<\/p>\n
The regressive nature of lottery revenues has led to a steady stream of innovations that seek to expand the number of potential winners and reduce the odds. Yet, in spite of these efforts to improve the odds, the vast majority of lottery players are likely to win very little. And even those who do win typically find themselves in financial trouble if they are not careful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"