a game in which tickets are sold for a chance to win a prize, usually money or goods. The prizes are drawn at random. People often buy tickets to lotteries for fun or as a way to raise money for charity.
Some states organize public lotteries, while others allow private companies to run them. Many states have laws regulating lotteries. People who are employed by lottery companies can be referred to as “lottery workers.” Lottery workers collect and sell tickets, answer questions about rules and regulations, help retailers advertise the games, and verify that winning tickets are genuine.
The first recorded lotteries offered tickets for sale with prizes of money or goods. Some of these are documented in town records from the 15th century. Others may date from earlier times. These public lotteries were intended to raise money for local needs and to benefit the poor.
Lottery winners are urged to invest their prizes wisely. They are also encouraged to share their winnings with others and to spend some of it on their family, friends, and community. Many state and federal taxes apply to lottery winnings. Those taxes can take a large portion of the total prize amount.
Those who play the lottery are not always rational, but they do understand their odds of winning. They might have quote-unquote systems, based on logic that isn’t necessarily borne out by statistics, about which stores are lucky and when to buy their tickets. But they know that the odds are long for the big prizes.
A broader meaning of the word “lottery” is “choice or selection made by chance or fate.” The use of this sense of the word dates to the early modern period. It is probably a calque from Middle Dutch loterie, which was used to describe the process of drawing lots for the distribution of property in new settlements, especially land. It is also attested in English from c. 1200, when the phrase cast (one’s) lot with another was in common use for agreeing to share property or an inheritance by means of lots.
The term lottery was adopted by the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language for the online edition in 1996, and was included in the printed edition in 2007. The earliest known reference to a public lotteries with prizes of cash or goods is a document from the 15th century in the Low Countries. The word lottery is related to the Latin lottery, the name of an ancient game that resembled the present-day game of bingo, in which tickets were drawn for the distribution of prizes such as dinnerware. The game was popular at Saturnalian feasts. The Romans would draw lots for a wide variety of items, from fine furniture to slaves. The lottery was a great way for wealthy Romans to give gifts to their guests without committing to a costly purchase. The game also served as an amusement for the guests at the end of a long meal.