Lottery is a game of chance, where numbers are randomly drawn and if you match them with your ticket, you win. The more numbers you match, the bigger your prize. Lottery games take many forms, from scratch-off tickets to raffles to state-run megagames. But there are some things that all lotteries have in common, such as the fact that they’re a form of gambling.

People who play lotteries know the odds are long. Yet they buy tickets anyway, often on the basis of quote-unquote “systems” that aren’t based in statistical reasoning. They talk about lucky numbers and favorite stores and times of day to buy tickets, and they have this deep-seated belief that someone, somewhere, has to win a big jackpot, so they might as well try their luck.

The roots of lotteries go back centuries. The Old Testament instructed Moses to conduct a census of Israel and divide land by lot, and Roman emperors used lottery-like drawing for property and slaves. But it was in colonial America that lotteries really took off, with a large part of public works projects—roads, canals, bridges, libraries, colleges, and churches—financed through them. Lotteries were so popular in the 1740s that they even helped fund the American Revolution.

But despite their popularity, lotteries aren’t very good for states. They only raise about a third of the money that a state needs, and they’re particularly regressive, putting a bigger burden on lower-income residents. They also encourage addictive behavior by triggering the same psychological urges as other types of gambling, like betting on sports and online casinos.

So how do states justify allowing lotteries? The answer lies in the mid-20th century, when state governments needed more revenue to support social safety nets and other programs. They decided that lotteries were a way to get it without the onerous taxes that afflicted other forms of gambling.

There are two main messages that state officials now rely on to promote the lotteries. The first is that the experience of buying a ticket and scratching it off is fun. This is coded to obscure the regressive nature of the lottery and the fact that it’s gambling.

The second message is that the money that a state receives from a lottery will help it to reduce other forms of taxation. This is a deceptive claim that ignores the fact that state budgets have ballooned and that most of the funds that lotteries raise are just from new players, not from people who would otherwise pay higher taxes.

It’s also important to note that winning a lottery doesn’t mean you won’t have to split the prize with others. In other words, your odds of winning depend on how many tickets you purchase and how much the top prize is. That’s why some people decide to pool their money and purchase a large number of tickets. But beware that if you do this, it’s not necessarily a good idea to choose numbers close together or ones that have sentimental value.