How the Lottery Works
Lotteries are a kind of gambling in which people pay to have a random chance to win something. The winner takes home a prize, often money, and the odds of winning vary by how many tickets are sold. The history of the lottery goes back centuries, and it’s been used to do everything from choosing kings to giving away slaves. In colonial America, it was a popular method for financing both private and public projects, including roads, libraries, schools, churches, canals, and bridges. Lotteries even helped fund the founding of Princeton and Columbia Universities. But they also tangled up with slavery in surprising ways—one enslaved man won a lottery ticket and went on to foment a slave rebellion.
The lottery’s appeal lies in the combination of monetary and non-monetary benefits. If a person’s expected utility from winning a jackpot outweighs the disutility of purchasing a ticket, that’s a rational decision for them. Likewise, the entertainment value of playing can outweigh the cost of losing, as long as that loss is not a large amount. This is why lottery sales are sensitive to economic trends: They tend to increase as incomes fall, unemployment rises, and poverty rates climb, while they decrease when jobs become available and health-care costs rise.
But the most powerful argument for the lottery is that it can help states cover a service whose cost would otherwise be too high for them to afford without it. That’s why, Cohen writes, “Lottery advocates often pitch the idea that, by legalizing state-run gambling, voters can afford things they would not otherwise pay for.” In this way, they have largely succeeded in dismissing long-standing ethical objections to lottery betting.
While a lottery does help raise some money for state programs, the percentage of revenue that the games generate is very small. For most states, the lottery is a small part of overall state finance—and it’s been a major source of controversy and division.
For some players, winning the lottery is about more than just cash: They are hoping to change their lives, to buy a dream home, a luxury car, a trip around the world or close all their debts. And, if done right, that is entirely possible. Richard Lustig, a former financial adviser and now a full-time lottery player, has been successful at doing just that. He has won seven grand prizes, and he’s shared his strategies for success in this revealing and entertaining book. His approach has been proven by the numbers, and his story will inspire anyone who has ever dreamed of becoming a millionaire.