The lottery is a form of gambling in which numbers are drawn for a prize. It is a common method of raising money for government and charities. It has a long history, beginning in the Low Countries in the 15th century. Records from the cities of Ghent, Utrecht and Bruges show that towns used the lottery to raise funds for building walls and town fortifications as well as to help the poor.

Modern state lotteries are operated as a business, with the primary goal of increasing revenues. Advertising focuses on persuading specific groups of people to spend money on the tickets. Critics charge that this approach undermines the democratic legitimacy of lottery policy. It gives the appearance that lottery officials are running at cross-purposes with the larger public interest.

Regardless of the political controversy, most Americans support state lotteries. In the immediate post-World War II period, many states looked to lotteries as a way to fund their social safety net without burdening middle-class and working-class taxpayers with onerous taxes. But that arrangement began to crumble in the 1960s as a result of inflation and the increasing cost of war.