A lottery is a game in which people pay to play for the chance of winning a prize. The winnings vary depending on the amount of money the lottery player pays and the number of tickets purchased. The game can be played for cash, goods, or services. There are many types of lotteries, such as those that award seats on airplanes and trains, or those that give away apartments in a subsidized housing complex. The term lottery is also used to refer to a process that awards certain goods or services, such as college admissions or kindergarten placements, by drawing names at random.

Lotteries are often used as a form of social welfare, allowing states to provide social programs without raising taxes. In the immediate post-World War II period, this arrangement seemed to work reasonably well; it was possible for states to expand their range of services while keeping taxes low on the middle and working classes. But by the nineteen-sixties, state budgets began to chafe under the burden of rising inflation and the cost of the Vietnam War. In many cases, a balancing act could be accomplished only by increasing taxes or cutting services, both of which were unpopular with voters.

As a result, some legislators started to promote state lotteries. Their argument was that gambling was something that people did anyway, so if the state were to allow it, it could make a profit and thereby help pay for things such as education, roads, and parks. It was a convenient argument for those who believed that people would gamble regardless of the law, and it was also an appealing one for the many politicians who were opposed to raising taxes.

But, as Cohen shows, the argument eventually failed because it amounted to saying that the state should profit from activities it regulates, even if those activities are harmful to people. This was a flawed argument, and it is one that lottery advocates now almost always reject.

The main reason for the failure of this argument is that it ignores the fact that lotteries are regressive. The vast majority of lottery winners are white and middle-class, while the disadvantaged groups of the population—the poor, minorities, and the elderly—do not participate. This is why the state should not profit from a form of gambling that is regressive in nature.

The state’s main message now is that the lottery is fun, and it should be played for the experience of scratching a ticket. This is a dangerous message, as it obscures the regressivity of the lottery and encourages people to think that they are doing their civic duty when they buy a ticket. It is time to stop treating the lottery as a harmless way to raise revenue. Lottery commissions should be honest about how much money the state actually receives from it, and they should not pretend that its benefits are greater than the harm it causes to vulnerable populations.