The official lottery is the state-run version of gambling, in which people purchase chances for a prize with money. It’s a popular way to raise funds for everything from road construction to public schools. The lottery has long been a controversial topic, with critics calling it a giant waste of money and supporters saying that it helps save children. But just how much it really does help is a complicated question. The answer depends on how it is compared to other state revenue, and it also depends on what the lottery actually does with its profits.

While states have held lotteries for hundreds of years, the modern version was born in the nineteen-sixties, when a national economic slump and a ballooning welfare state left them struggling to balance their budgets. Lotteries were promoted as a way to maintain essential services without raising taxes, which would have been politically impossible. As a result, they became “budgetary miracles,” Cohen writes, allowing politicians to make revenue appear seemingly out of nowhere.

In the early days of the American lottery, it was largely run by private promoters. These companies, which often abused the system in order to increase their profits, were notorious for crookedness and corruption. Denmark Vesey, an enslaved man in Charleston, won the local lottery and used his winnings to buy freedom. In the 1800s, religious and moral sensibilities began to turn against gambling, and the lottery fell out of favor as well.

But the lottery’s defenders argued that since gamblers were going to gamble anyway, why not let government pocket the profits? This argument, which was particularly appealing to white voters, gave legal cover to state-run gambling and helped them to brush off ethical objections.

By the late eighteenth century, America was awash in lotteries. Some, like the Continental Congress’s attempt to hold a lottery to fund the Revolutionary War, were publicly organized; others were privately organized. Many of the resulting funds were used for public works, including building Harvard, Yale, and Princeton; building the British Museum; and repairing bridges and roads. The lottery also funded the supplying of guns for civil defense, as well as churches and a battery to defend Philadelphia, and rebuilt Faneuil Hall in Boston.

Today, the lottery is one of the most popular forms of gambling in the United States. The official lottery website claims that it raises over $100 billion per year for the public good, and that is a very significant amount. It is a very popular way to spend money, but it can be addictive and should be played responsibly. If you think you may have a problem, please call 2-1-1 or GamblerND. If you need further assistance, contact the National Council on Problem Gambling or Gamblers Anonymous. Please remember that playing the lottery is a game and never a substitute for professional assistance. – Adapted from the National Council on Problem Gambling.