In modern society, lottery is a popular form of gambling that involves paying a small amount of money to be entered into a drawing for a large prize. The prizes are typically cash or goods, but may also be services or other arrangements such as vacations or cars. Purchasing a lottery ticket enables a person to experience a thrill and indulge in a fantasy of becoming wealthy. While lottery purchases cannot be accounted for by decision models based on expected value maximization, they can be explained by risk-seeking behavior and other factors such as the entertainment value of the activity or the desire to acquire wealth.

In the early years of lotteries in Europe, they were largely organized to raise money for a variety of public purposes such as poor relief and war reparations. In colonial America, they were used to fund the construction of roads and wharves, as well as schools such as Harvard and Yale. In addition to helping the poor, the lottery was seen as a painless method of collecting taxes.

The first state-sponsored lotteries were established in the late 17th century. Today, most state lotteries offer a wide range of games. A typical lottery starts with a fixed pool of prize money, which is the total value of all prizes remaining after expenses (profits for the promoter, costs of promotion, and taxes or other revenues) have been deducted. In addition, most states use a percentage of the money they receive from lotteries to address gambling addiction and put the remainder into general funds for budget shortfalls.