A lottery is any competition where entrants pay to enter and prizes are awarded by chance. Historically, the word has been applied to state-sponsored games involving drawing numbers for a prize, but it also includes other contests where the outcome is determined by chance, such as sports tournaments or even a contest at a bar trivia night.

In the United States, lotteries were introduced primarily as a way for states to generate revenue without raising taxes on their populations or cutting public programs. Politicians have used the argument that lotteries are a form of “painless” gambling, where players voluntarily spend money to support a state service. This narrative has largely been successful, although it is misleading.

While the objective fiscal circumstances of a state certainly have an impact on whether or not it adopts a lottery, they are only a small part of the equation for why it has won broad public approval. The more important factor is how a lottery is perceived to benefit the public. In this respect, there is a strong similarity between the arguments in favor of and against lotteries across states.

Lottery play peaks shortly after a lottery’s initial introduction and then levels off and may even decline. To keep revenues up, lotteries continually introduce new games. These innovations may vary, but the underlying rationality remains unchanged: People buy tickets if they expect to gain utility in return—whether it’s entertainment value or a monetary gain, such as buying a car or a home.