Official lottery is a form of gambling in which people purchase chances to win prizes, often money. It is often used to fund government projects, but may also be run by private promoters. It has a long history in the United States, beginning with the Continental Congress’ attempt to raise funds for the American Revolution. The lottery later became a popular method for raising voluntary taxes and helped build several American colleges including Harvard, Dartmouth, Yale, King’s College (now Columbia), William and Mary, Union, and Brown.

The modern US lottery system is divided between state lotteries and multi-jurisdictional lottery games. The latter are offered by consortiums of state lotteries and generally feature larger prize pools because they are able to draw participants from a wider geographic area.

State lotteries are available only within a given jurisdiction’s borders, while the multi-jurisdictional games such as Powerball and Mega Millions are played in nearly all states and serve as de facto national lotteries. There is no one-stop shop for purchasing tickets, as each jurisdiction has its own laws and regulations regarding how they are sold.

The most popular way to buy a ticket is online. Many online lottery sites allow users to choose numbers, purchase a ticket, and receive a confirmation with a scan of the official lottery ticket that acts as proof of participation in an official drawing. Some of these sites, such as theLotter, are even able to offer players the opportunity to win real money by playing their favorite lottery games!