A lottery is a way of distributing something—usually money or prizes—by chance. In the most common type, people purchase tickets for a prize. Then, a random drawing determines winners. Lotteries have a long history and are popular with the public. But they also have a dark underside. They may contribute to feelings of hopelessness and deprivation, especially among those who do not win. And even keluaran sgp those who do win can end up worse off than they were before.
Cohen explains that state-run lotteries emerged in the nineteen-sixties when rising awareness of the enormous profits to be made from gambling collided with a crisis in state funding. Inflating inflation and the cost of the Vietnam War were straining state budgets, requiring states to either raise taxes or cut services. Both options were unpopular with voters, especially in states that offered generous social safety nets.
The popularity of lottery was strengthened by the fact that it was a painless form of taxation. People were willing to pay a small sum for the chance of considerable gain, and this made sense in terms of a broader philosophical outlook. The idea that decisions and fates could be determined by casting lots had a long record in human history, going back at least to the biblical Book of Numbers, and later to keno slips in China. The first recorded lottery to distribute prizes was held in Bruges in 1466. From there, the concept spread to England and America, despite Protestant proscriptions against gambling.