A lottery is a form of gambling in which participants buy tickets and win prizes if their numbers are drawn. In the United States, state lotteries raise billions in dollars and are a major source of state revenue. But if you look at these revenues in the context of the entire state budget, they’re just a drop in the bucket. For example, between 1964 and 2019, lottery revenues totaled $502 billion—but only 2 percent of all state revenue.
It’s easy to dismiss the lottery as just another way for people to waste money. But when you talk to people who play regularly, who spend $50 or $100 a week on tickets, they have a different story. They’ve been playing for years, they tell me, and they believe that there is a small sliver of chance that they will one day win.
The odds are bad, of course, but it doesn’t seem that way when you’re watching a billboard for the Mega Millions or Powerball. The problem is that these ads convey two messages, both of which are harmful: They imply that playing the lottery is fun; and they imply that people who don’t play the lottery aren’t good enough.
These messages exacerbate societal problems such as inequality and limited social mobility, which is why it’s so important to think carefully about how lotteries are advertised. And that’s just the start: It’s also critical to understand how the lottery works.