The odds of winning the lottery are a bit like the chances of getting struck by lightning: they’re slim. But that doesn’t stop people from buying tickets. In fact, Americans spend more than $100 billion on lottery tickets each year. The prizes for each drawing vary, but the majority of ticket revenue goes toward state and vendor costs. The rest of the proceeds go toward projects that each state designates. Some use the money to fund public education, while others invest it in research and gambling addiction initiatives.

Lottery has a long and complicated history in the United States, both as a public game of chance and a source of income for government agencies. In the early days, Puritans viewed it as “a dishonor to God,” but by the 1750s George Washington ran one to help build Boston’s Faneuil Hall and John Hancock used it to raise funds for ships to the Virginia Colony.

When a state adopts a lottery, it usually legislates a monopoly for itself; sets up an agency or public corporation to run it; begins operations with a modest number of relatively simple games; and then progressively expands its offerings due to ongoing pressure for revenues. Some of these expansions have prompted concerns about the lottery’s marketing tactics, its alleged regressive impact on lower-income groups, and other public policy issues.

Because the lottery is a business that’s focused on maximizing revenues, it must advertise to persuade people to spend their money. And because it’s a form of gambling, there are concerns that this promotion leads to compulsive gambling and can harm the health of individuals and their families.