A gambling game in which tickets are sold for a chance to win prizes such as cash or goods. People who buy tickets hope to be among the few winners, but they know that their chances are very low. Lotteries are legal in some states and are popular with some groups of people, such as the elderly, women, blacks, and Catholics. In many countries, the lottery is a major source of income for governments. It is also widely used to raise funds for charitable and public purposes.
Although making decisions and determining fates by casting lots has a long record in human history, lotteries as commercial activities are of much later origin. The first recorded public lottery to distribute prize money was held in the 15th century, when the towns of Bruges, Ghent, and Utrecht raised funds to improve town fortifications and help the poor.
The modern state lottery usually begins with a legislative monopoly for the game (as opposed to licensing a private company in exchange for a percentage of ticket sales), launches with a modest number of relatively simple games, and then constantly introduces new ones to increase revenues. This constant pressure for additional revenues can produce a cycle of soaring ticket prices and falling sales, with the result that state budgets can become increasingly dependent on lottery revenues. This approach is not without risks, and in particular the possibility that lottery advertising is misleading can lead to irrational buying habits.