What is a Lottery?

A lottery is a game in which people purchase tickets for the chance to win a prize. Prizes can range from money to goods and services. In the United States, state governments organize and conduct lotteries. In the past, many people used private lotteries to distribute land and other property amongst their heirs. Modern state lotteries are regulated by law and provide revenue for public programs such as education, infrastructure, and state and local government operations. Some lotteries are based on scratch-off tickets or other games that require less skill than traditional sweepstakes. Most state lotteries are administered by a special department, which selects and licenses retailers, trains employees of retail outlets to use lottery terminals, promotes the lottery in other media and locations, assists local governments in planning and executing lottery games, pays high-tier prizes and helps ensure that retailers, players, and suppliers comply with state laws and rules.

The events in Shirley Jackson’s short story, The Lottery, depict humankind’s hypocrisy and evil-nature. “They greeted one another and exchanged bits of gossip, manhandling each other without a flinch of pity…” (Shirley 281) The reader expects that the lottery will be advantageous to the villagers in some way, but nothing of worth is gained from this practice.

Lottery critics argue that state politicians, rather than being motivated by the desire to improve public welfare, adopt lotteries because they bring in large amounts of “painless” revenue that can be used for any purpose. Lottery revenues are sometimes earmarked for specific purposes, such as education, but the earmarking is often misleading. Typically, the earmarked funds are “saved” by the legislature’s reduction of the appropriations that would have been made from general state revenue for that purpose.