When you play New York Lottery live sgp games, the proceeds support public K-12 education. You can learn more about how this works and view official winning numbers on our website. If you win a prize, the state will withhold taxes from your winnings. If you are a New York City resident, your local taxes will be withheld in addition to the state’s withholding.

Modern lottery gambling began in the 1960s, but humans have been playing lotteries since ancient times. The early American colonies were financed in part by them, as were many public works projects. After the Civil War, Americans grew acclimatized to them as a way of raising money for civic projects without increasing taxes, which were unpopular with voters.

Lotteries, Cohen argues, were “budgetary miracles: a way for states to make revenue appear seemingly out of thin air, avoiding the unpleasant choice of either raising taxes or cutting services.” With state budgets stretched tight by inflation and the cost of wartime welfare spending, it became ever harder to balance a government’s books. But a tax increase would be a political disaster, especially in a time when voters were resolutely anti-tax.

That’s why, Cohen says, lottery advocates began to narrow the scope of their claims. Instead of arguing that a lottery would float an entire state’s budget, they claimed it would cover a single line item that was popular and nonpartisan — usually education but sometimes elder care or aid to veterans. This more modest strategy enabled legalization campaigns to reassure voters that a vote in favor of the lottery was not a vote for gambling, but for a vital public service.