A game of chance in which people buy tickets numbered by chance, and prizes are awarded to those whose numbers match the winning ones. Lotteries are commonly used to raise funds for public projects, such as building roads or schools. In the United States, many state governments have legalized lottery games. Some also run charitable lotteries to distribute money to poor people or fund educational grants. In the early colonies, colonists often held lotteries to finance construction of roads and other infrastructure projects. George Washington even sponsored one in 1768 to pay for a road across the Blue Ridge Mountains.

In Cohen’s view, the modern lottery has emerged out of the “thorny dilemma” faced by American democracy. As a form of gambling, it violates most of the most fundamental ethical and philosophical principles governing government action. But at the same time, it offers substantial monetary rewards to those who participate. Thus, it is an extremely popular activity, with millions of Americans playing it at least occasionally. And it has a significant, but largely invisible, impact on the lives of citizens.

While the concept of a lottery is as old as human civilization, its modern incarnation in the United States began in the nineteen-sixties, when state budget crises combined with growing awareness of the enormous profits to be gained from the lottery business. Many states had provided a wide array of social safety net benefits, and balancing these costs with tax increases or cuts in services was politically impossible.

The solution was to introduce a lottery, which could raise enough money to meet those needs without raising taxes or cutting services. This gave the state a way to make large sums of money while satisfying the ethical concerns of many voters. In addition, the lottery could provide a “get-out-of-jail-free card,” since it offered an opportunity to win money without breaking the law.

But Cohen argues that the modern lottery has never been able to overcome the underlying problem with this type of gambling: namely, that it is inherently irrational. While it may be possible to fend off the temptation to gamble by recognizing the irrationality of the exercise, most individuals continue to participate. And this is because, in their minds, they believe that somebody, someday, is going to win the big jackpot.

As a result, the lottery has developed a large number of specific constituencies: convenience store operators (the primary vendors); lottery suppliers, who make heavy contributions to state political campaigns); teachers, in states where lottery revenues are earmarked for education; and, of course, the players themselves. Each of these groups has its own interests, but they are all motivated by the same basic psychological forces. In the end, it is that irrational belief in the “lucky few” that keeps the lottery running. Even so, in some cases it is a losing proposition for most participants. And this, in turn, has some unintended consequences for the rest of us.