Lottery is a method of distributing property, money, or prizes by drawing lots. This practice dates back to ancient times. The Bible mentions it in several places. For example, the Lord instructed Moses to divide the land among the people of Israel by lot. Lotteries were also common in Roman times as a dinner entertainment and for giving away slaves or other properties. In colonial era America, lottery proceeds helped build many colleges and other public works projects. Benjamin Franklin ran a lottery in 1748 to fund the creation of Philadelphia’s militia. John Hancock and George Washington ran lottery campaigns to finance building Boston’s Faneuil Hall, and Washington sponsored a lottery in 1767 to fund construction of a road across Virginia’s mountains.
State lotteries operate as businesses and seek to maximize revenues through advertising, which necessarily focuses on persuading certain groups of consumers to spend money on the lottery. As such, they are subject to all the criticisms that would be directed at any business in an anti-tax era, including concerns about problem gambling, the regressive effects of lottery play on lower-income individuals, and the question of whether government at any level is appropriate to promote gambling for its own profit.
Lottery advertisements are often designed to appeal to one of the most basic human impulses, our love of chance and adventure. In addition, they are coded to encourage covetousness. God forbids coveting the things that money can buy, and the promises of wealth from winning a lottery ticket merely encourage this vice.
