Official lottery is a form of gambling in which players purchase tickets for a chance to win a prize. The proceeds are typically used to support education or other public services. It is popular in the United States and other countries. Several state-run lotteries exist, as well as private ones. In the United States, the New York State Lottery is the largest state lottery. Its first slogan was “Your Chance of a Lifetime to Help Education,” and it has raised more than $34 billion in that time.

There is a basic human impulse to gamble, and there is some evidence that state-sanctioned lotteries can help re-ignite the economy by encouraging spending on products other than food and shelter. However, the fact is that most people who play the lotto don’t win. Those in the bottom quintile of income, who spend a larger share of their money on tickets, are more likely to lose than those at the top of the distribution.

Lottery opponents argued both that it was unethical to fund government programs through gambling and that state politicians were overstating how much revenue they would stand to gain by legalizing the games. These critics came from both sides of the political aisle and all walks of life, but they were particularly vociferous among devout Protestants, who viewed state-sanctioned lotteries as morally unconscionable. They were also skeptical of claims that lotteries could bring in massive sums of money, pointing out that bingo games sponsored by Catholic high schools routinely brought in more revenue than state-sponsored lottery games.