The lottery is a game in which people pay for the chance to win a prize. The winners are selected by a random drawing of numbers. Prizes vary in size and type. A few are very large, such as a sports team or a business. Others are less substantial, such as a house or a new car. Lotteries have become a common means of raising funds for public projects and services. They have also become a source of ill-gotten gains for criminals and other organized crime groups.

The earliest state lotteries began to develop in Europe in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. By the seventeenth century, they had become a popular way to raise money for towns, wars, and colleges. In the United States, the first lottery was established in 1612 to finance the colony of Virginia.

Since then, forty states (as well as the District of Columbia) have enacted state-controlled lotteries. Each state legislates a monopoly for itself and establishes a government agency or public corporation to run the lottery. Most lotteries are subsidized by revenues from ticket sales, with the remaining proceeds going as prizes and profits to the winner.

Because state lotteries are businesses, advertising necessarily focuses on persuading target groups to spend their money on tickets. This can generate criticisms of the promotion of gambling, such as alleged negative impacts on poor and low-income groups and the encouragement of compulsive behavior. But these criticisms often miss the point. Most lottery officials are not entrusted with the responsibility of making broad policy decisions, and the ongoing evolution of lotteries usually overtakes the initial intentions that may have prompted their establishment.