For most people, lottery playing is a bad idea. The odds of winning are slim—in fact, there is a higher chance of being struck by lightning or becoming a billionaire than there is of getting the winning numbers. Yet a lot of people play, often spending a significant share of their incomes on tickets. And, despite the fact that many of them will never win, the experience of buying a ticket can make people feel better about themselves. This is a form of psychological self-deception, one that can have serious consequences for the health and well-being of individuals and families.
A slew of studies has shown that playing the lottery can be addictive. A recent study found that more than 40% of those who have purchased a lottery ticket report that they play at least once a year, and most say that they do it to make themselves feel good. But the research also suggests that a lottery addiction can have severe repercussions on people’s lives, ranging from credit-card debt to depression. So, what makes a lottery addict tick? Several theories have been proposed to explain why some people become addicted. One theory is that the addiction may be rooted in an inherent sense of injustice. Another is that lottery players are drawn to the game’s promise of a quick fix to a long-standing problem. And still others argue that lottery winners are swayed by the notion that it is “fair” to gamble if the money will be used to help someone else.
Lotteries have been around for centuries. They were popular in the ancient world, where they were often used to distribute property or slaves. They were brought to America by European colonists, and were used extensively in the nineteenth century to finance land purchases and the expansion of railroad lines. They were also a common way to distribute political office, and became a popular source of funding for education.
New Hampshire started the modern era of state lotteries in 1964, and they have been a fixture ever since. These state-run games evolved from privately operated private lotteries, which were often used to raise funds for municipal projects, such as town fortifications or to aid the poor. The earliest known public lotteries date from the fifteenth century, when they were used in the Low Countries to raise money for town fortifications and charity.
In the early days of state lotteries, advocates argued that they would float a single line item in the state budget—usually education but sometimes veterans’ care or public parks, depending on the political climate at the time. As legalization advocates struggled to maintain these claims, they began to gin up new strategies. They stopped arguing that a lottery would float an entire state budget and instead focused on a specific line item, which was easy to campaign for because it was popular and nonpartisan—and, in the case of education, a natural constituency for a lotto.