A lottery is a system of allocating prizes according to chance, usually by drawing or casting lots. It may be applied to decisions about hiring, firing, or promoting workers, allocating land, or awarding other public goods. It is also used of events such as sporting competitions, elections, or public services. Originally, it may refer to any game of chance, including an official event, but today the word is most often used of the state-sponsored version in which people pay to buy numbered tickets for a random drawing with a prize money pooled from all ticket sales.

The earliest lottery-like games are recorded in the 15th century, when towns held them to raise money for town walls and for helping the poor. During the American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin ran a lottery to fund cannons for Philadelphia’s defense. The lottery became a national phenomenon in the late 19th and 20th centuries, when many states adopted it to boost revenue for education or other social programs.

The main argument in favor of the lottery is that it allows state governments to spend without imposing direct taxes on the general public. This argument has proved remarkably successful in winning public approval for the lottery, even when the state’s fiscal circumstances are good. However, critics have emphasized that the lottery has significant drawbacks, such as the problem of compulsive gambling and its regressive impact on lower-income groups. These concerns, in fact, have made the lottery less popular in recent years.