The lottery is a form of gambling in which participants select numbers or other symbols to win prizes. It is a form of public gambling and is regulated by state law. In the United States, most states and the District of Columbia have lotteries. Most state lotteries offer a variety of games, including scratch-off tickets, daily games, and games where participants pick numbers. Prize amounts are typically in the range of several hundred dollars to tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, with a high degree of chance for winning (on the order of 1 in 50).
The casting of lots for making decisions and determining fates has a long record in human history, but the use of lotteries for material gain is much more recent. Probably the first public lotteries to sell tickets and award prizes in exchange for consideration were held in the Low Countries in the 15th century, to raise money for building town fortifications and to help the poor.
State lotteries were introduced in the United States during the early and mid-20th centuries. Generally, each state legislated a monopoly for itself and established a public agency or corporation to run the lottery (as opposed to licensing private companies in return for a share of profits). The initial operations began with a small number of relatively simple games, but revenues typically expanded dramatically, leading to a gradual expansion in complexity and in the introduction of new games.