A lottery is a game of chance in which people buy tickets and win prizes, such as money or goods, if their numbers match those randomly chosen by machines. State governments hold lotteries to raise money for a variety of public projects without raising taxes. Lottery profits, which totaled $17.1 billion in FY 2006, are primarily allocated to education. Some states have also used them to distribute goods and services that might otherwise be hard to purchase, such as units in a subsidized housing block or kindergarten placements at a good school.

The first recorded European lotteries were held during the 15th century to raise funds for town walls and for helping the poor. Alexander Hamilton complained that lotteries encouraged speculative risk-taking, and he wrote that “people will always be willing to hazard trifling sums for the hope of considerable gain.”

In the United States, most state lotteries are operated as monopolies; they do not compete with private ones. In addition, the states’ rights to offer lotteries are protected by constitutional provisions limiting federal authority to regulate gambling. This guarantees that the state has exclusive control over lotteries, and it makes them a comparatively low-risk source of revenue for state budgets.

Lotteries are popular in the United States and abroad, where they help raise money for everything from road construction to health care. In the United States, a person can play a lottery in any state that has one by purchasing a ticket from a retailer, such as convenience stores or gas stations, that sells them. Many lottery retailers offer online services. In addition, many churches and fraternal organizations sell tickets, as do service stations, restaurants and bars, bowling alleys, and newsstands.