A lottery is a type of gambling in which people pay to enter and their names are drawn. In most cases, the prize money is shared equally among all participants. The term “lottery” applies to a wide variety of competitions that involve some element togel of chance, from sports contests that award players who match a series of numbers to those who correctly pick their Powerball numbers.
Many state governments legalize and manage lotteries. They set up a monopoly to operate them (or a quasi-governmental agency or public corporation), typically beginning with a small number of games and expanding with pressure from political leaders and the public for new ways to raise revenue.
Historically, lottery proceeds were used to provide funding for a broad range of public goods and services. These included building the first church buildings in the United States, as well as many of our nation’s most prestigious universities, including Harvard, Brown, Yale and Princeton. Benjamin Franklin even sponsored a lottery to fund cannons for the defense of Philadelphia during the American Revolution.
The word lottery comes from Middle Dutch loterij, itself a calque of Middle French loterie “action of drawing lots.” The oldest recorded instance of the game is a keno slip from 205 to 187 BC, and its influence has spread worldwide. Its popularity has fueled everything from public art to social welfare programs.