The official lottery is a form of gambling that involves drawing numbers at random to win a prize. Some governments outlaw it, while others endorse it and regulate it to some degree, often by organizing a state or national lottery. Lottery games vary in format, but they all involve some combination of buying tickets to win cash or goods. Many lotteries offer a fixed percentage of ticket sales for the prize, while others distribute prizes in the form of goods or services, such as houses and cars. Some lotteries even offer prizes such as free college tuition or medical care.

In colonial America, lotteries raised funds to build schools, canals, churches, and military fortifications. Benjamin Franklin organized several lotteries to buy cannons for the city of Philadelphia, and George Washington managed one in 1768 that offered land and slaves as prizes. These early lotteries were not only a popular way to raise money but also an important part of American culture.

Today, state-run lotteries play a role in financing public projects, including roads and bridges, museums, and libraries. Some states offer only a single game, while others offer a range of games including instant tickets, keno, and video lottery terminals. Some states also sell a variety of scratch-off tickets that feature drawings for a wide range of prizes.

In the nineteen-sixties, Cohen argues, growing awareness of how much could be made in the gambling business collided with a crisis in state funding. As the economy sagged, job security and pensions disappeared, health-care costs rose, and poverty rates increased, balancing state budgets became impossible without raising taxes or cutting services.