Lotteries are the world’s oldest form of public gambling. They are also among the most popular. Historically, they’ve been used for everything from divvying up land to awarding slaves and royal decrees. In America, they were an early staple of the colonial era. But while the lottery is widely viewed as an entertainment, it has serious consequences for those who play. It’s time to ask whether we can trust this form of gambling.
One of the big messages that lottery commissions want to convey is that playing is fun, and scratching a ticket is satisfying. That’s true to a point, but it obscures the fact that the game is regressive. It draws disproportionately from low-income, less educated, and nonwhite communities. Lottery play drops with income, even as other forms of gambling rise.
In addition to its obvious regressivity, the lottery is bad for state budgets. It is a classic case of policy being made piecemeal, and with little or no overall direction. Lotteries were established in states that needed a revenue source, and they were thought to be a painless way to raise money without raising taxes on the middle class. That arrangement began to crumble as inflation accelerated, and states were forced to find other ways to fund their services.
But there’s more to the lottery than meets the eye, and it has a lot to do with the inextricable human impulse to gamble. It dangles the promise of wealth in an age of inequality and limited social mobility, and it is that, more than anything else, that’s driving people to purchase tickets.
The first lotteries to offer prizes in the form of cash were held in the 15th century, according to town records of Ghent, Bruges, and Utrecht. The English word “lottery” is derived from the Dutch noun lot, meaning fate. The lottery was popular in the 17th century, when it became a regular way to raise funds for town fortifications and poor relief, and eventually came to be regarded as a painless form of taxation.
But it’s important to remember that the odds of winning are extremely slim, and a huge proportion of the prizes go unclaimed. And, of course, there are all the other problems associated with gambling. So before you buy your next lottery ticket, think about how you might use the money if you won. Perhaps you could start an emergency savings account, or pay off some credit card debt. But, most importantly, don’t forget that the chance of winning is slim, and there are many other things that you can do with your spare change.