Lottery is an activity that involves giving away money or goods by chance. It may be used to award prizes for a variety of purposes, including business ventures or public services. People often play for the hope of winning a large sum. Some lotteries are run by government agencies, while others are privately organized.

The lottery evokes an inextricable human urge to gamble. It also dangles the promise of instant riches in an age of inequality and limited social mobility. But there’s more to it than that. Lottery commissions rely on two messages to promote their games. One is that winning a prize doesn’t require a big investment, just the experience of buying a ticket. This obscures the regressivity of lottery plays and leads people to assume it’s an entirely harmless hobby for those at the top of the economic ladder.

Another message is that playing the lottery is “fun.” This one’s a bit harder to dispute because everyone loves a good story about someone’s life changing in an instant. But it also obscures the fact that most lottery players are low-income, less educated, nonwhite, and male. They also spend disproportionately on tickets.