In the United States alone, people spend billions each year on lottery tickets. Some do so for fun while others believe that winning the lottery is their only shot at a better life. Whatever the reason, the fact is that many people play, and they do so despite knowing the odds are bad. There’s a certain sense of inextricable human attraction to lottery games, and if you look at billboards on the highway, you’ll see that they’re not shy about highlighting the size of the prizes.
In a recent episode of his podcast, Joe Rogan addressed the issue, pointing out that people often buy lottery tickets in order to feel like they did something good for society. He says that, while this may be true to some extent, it’s also a bit misleading since the vast majority of lottery ticket sales are to individuals.
Lotteries have been around for centuries and can be traced back to the Old Testament, when Moses was instructed to take a census of the Israelites and divide the land among them by lot. Roman emperors also used them to give away property and slaves. The first state-sponsored lotteries began in the Low Countries in the 15th century. Benjamin Franklin held a lottery to raise funds for cannons to help defend Philadelphia during the American Revolution. Lotteries became popular in colonial America and helped finance roads, libraries, churches, colleges, canals, bridges, and public buildings.
While the general public still plays a role in supporting lotteries, they also develop extensive specific constituencies that include convenience store operators (lottery advertising is heavily concentrated in these outlets); lottery suppliers (heavy contributions to state political campaigns by lottery suppliers are regularly reported); teachers (in those states where lottery revenues are earmarked for education) and so on.