In the United States, lottery sales contribute billions to state coffers each year. While some people play for fun, many think that they are buying the ticket to their own financial salvation: They expect that winning a jackpot will allow them to retire early, buy a dream home, or give their children a better life than they have had. This hope, despite long odds of success, is what drives lottery participants to spend money.
Lottery is an ancient pastime: Its roots go back to the Roman Empire, and even the Bible mentions the casting of lots for everything from a king to a robe to keep after Jesus’s Crucifixion. In the 17th century, Dutch cities organized public lotteries to raise money for town fortifications and help the poor.
Once state lotteries were established, debate and criticism shifted from the general desirability of them to specific features of their operations. For example, critics focused on the problem of compulsive gambling, the regressive impact on lower-income neighborhoods, and other issues of public policy.
A common argument of lottery proponents is that it is a painless form of taxation because players voluntarily spend their own money (and are not “taxed” by the government). But this argument misses fundamental flaws in how the lottery actually operates. In particular, it ignores how the lottery reflects economic trends: As Cohen points out, lotteries sell more tickets when incomes are falling and unemployment is rising, when the old national promise of a decent standard of living has eroded, and when people believe that winning the lottery—however improbable—could be their only shot at prosperity.