A lottery is a game of chance in which players have the opportunity to win a prize based on the drawing of numbers. State lotteries, which typically offer one large cash prize and a number of smaller prizes, are popular with the public and provide significant revenues to states.

Lotteries have a long history, beginning in the 15th century in Burgundy and Flanders as a way to raise funds for wartime needs. They played a major role in financing the early American colonies, notably by helping to build colleges such as Harvard and Dartmouth. In the United States, private lotteries have raised money for everything from a battery of guns for Philadelphia to rebuilding Faneuil Hall in Boston.

The moral arguments against lotteries focus on the idea that they are a form of voluntary taxation. Because people must voluntarily spend their money to play, critics argue that they impose a burden on poorer citizens who cannot afford it, and they argue that lottery revenues are often used for unrelated public purposes.

The argument against lotteries also focuses on the idea that they encourage harmful behavior such as gambling addiction and other forms of problematic risk-taking. Lottery commissions argue that these arguments are misguided because the money they raise is a small portion of overall state revenue. While $502 billion sounds like a lot of money, it is less than 1 to 2 percent of all state revenue in a given year.