Lottery, a form of gambling in which numbers are drawn for prizes, has been around for centuries. It was common in the Roman Empire, where Nero was a big fan, and it appears in the Bible as a way to divine God’s will. In the seventeenth century, it was used in the colonies to raise money for everything from town fortifications to the construction of churches.
The problem with these early lotteries, however, is that the odds of winning were almost always awful. The more improbable the odds, the more people wanted to play. This counterintuitive phenomenon became even more pronounced in the twentieth century as America’s prosperity waned, and state budgets got stretched thin by inflation and health-care costs. For states that offered a generous social safety net, balancing the books became increasingly difficult without raising taxes or cutting services, which would be very unpopular with voters.
It is not surprising, then, that people turned to the lottery to make up the difference. You can now buy a fifty-dollar scratch-off ticket while waiting to cash your check at the grocery store, or you can pick up Powerball tickets along with Snickers bars at Dollar General. And, just like tobacco and video games, the lottery isn’t above availing itself of the psychology of addiction.
Rather than arguing that legalizing the lottery would float the entire state budget, advocates began to argue that it could cover a single line item—usually education, but sometimes elder care or public parks or aid for veterans. This more focused argument was a far more effective one, because it was very easy to campaign on. Moreover, it was easier for voters to support the lottery when they knew that their vote was not a vote for gambling but a vote for a specific government service.