The casting of lots to determine fates and property distribution has a long record, beginning with the Old Testament and including many examples in Roman law. Modern lotteries, however, are quite different in their scope and their purpose. They are not merely games of chance but state-sponsored enterprises with very specific goals: generating revenue for a wide variety of purposes.

When lottery officials talk about their purpose, they usually emphasize that the proceeds benefit a particular public good, such as education. This argument is especially effective when states are facing financial stress, when threats of tax increases and cuts in public programs are most serious. Yet the popularity of lotteries seems to be largely independent of the actual fiscal situation of the state.

In fact, research shows that once a state adopts a lottery, it seems to spread throughout the country in a fairly predictable pattern: within a few years, neighboring states tend to follow suit. This is particularly true for the big multistate lotteries, which emerged in the 1980s and have grown enormously since then.

State lotteries generally begin operations with a modest number of relatively simple games. These are the games that most people think of when they hear the word “lottery.” But lotteries also offer more elaborate games, such as video poker and keno, which generate higher prizes but have lower odds of winning. These more complex games have tended to grow in popularity after revenues from traditional forms of the lottery have peaked and begun to decline, prompting lotteries to introduce new games in an attempt to sustain or increase revenues.