The practice of making decisions and determining fates by the casting of lots has a long record in human history, including several instances in the Bible. But the lottery, in which a prize is offered for the chance to acquire goods or services, is a much more recent invention. The first recorded public lotteries to distribute prizes of money were held in the Low Countries in the 15th century to raise funds for town fortifications and to help the poor.

The early American colonists used lotteries to finance a wide variety of private and public projects, including paving streets and constructing canals and bridges; building universities (including Harvard and Yale); and helping soldiers in the Revolutionary War. Benjamin Franklin sponsored a lottery in 1776 to raise money for cannons to defend Philadelphia from the British, and George Washington promoted a lottery in 1767 to help relieve his crushing debts.

Today’s state lotteries are run as businesses, with a clear focus on maximizing revenues. To do so, they advertise heavily, promoting the prizes on offer as well as the fact that lottery tickets are tax-deductible. In addition, they frequently present false or misleading information in their promotions—for example, by stating that winning the jackpot is more likely than losing; inflating the value of prizes (lotto jackpots are usually paid out in annual installments over 20 years, with taxes and inflation dramatically eroding the actual prize); and promoting lottery participation to people who would not otherwise be interested.