A lottery is a game in which tickets are drawn and prizes awarded on the basis of chance. Prizes can be money, goods, services, or public office (or other privileges). Lotteries are most commonly organized by state governments, which have exclusive rights to operate them and use the proceeds for government programs. The first lotteries were recorded in the Low Countries during the 15th century to raise funds for town fortifications and to help the poor.

In the United States, all lotteries are operated by state governments, which grant themselves monopoly rights to do so. In the early 2000s, forty-one of the fifty states and the District of Columbia had active lotteries. People can purchase a ticket legally in all of these states, including those where the ticket can be purchased only through mail order or online. In addition, many states allow people to buy tickets from companies that operate out-of-state lottery games.

The basic elements of a lottery are fairly simple: a pool of money from ticket sales, a set of rules governing the frequency and size of prizes, and some means of recording a person’s identity, the amount staked by him, and the number(s) or other symbols on which he has placed his bet. Typically, a percentage of the total pool is used to cover costs related to organizing and promoting the lottery, and another percentage goes to the winners.

Traditionally, most people have participated in lotteries by participating in lottery pools at work or other groups. For example, a coworker group might establish a lottery pool with 50 members who each contribute a dollar to the pool. The lottery pool manager then purchases 50 tickets and holds them safely until the drawing.