The lottery is a game of chance where players pay to win a prize. The winnings are typically taxed heavily, but even so-called “small wins” can have huge ramifications on people’s lives. Some Americans spend over $80 billion per year on the lottery. This is more than many people’s emergency funds, and it could cause them to go bankrupt in a few years. This money could be better spent on building an emergency fund or paying off credit card debt.
In the early American era, lotteries played an important role in raising public revenue without taxing citizens. Benjamin Franklin organized one in Philadelphia to raise money for the new colony’s militia, and John Hancock ran a lottery to help build Boston’s Faneuil Hall. George Washington sponsored a lottery to try to fund a road across the Blue Ridge Mountains, but it failed to earn enough to be viable. The founding fathers were big believers in lotteries as a way to avoid taxes and build the new nation.
Today, 44 states have state-run lotteries. The six that don’t are Alabama, Alaska, Utah, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Nevada (which has a state-sponsored casino), as well as the District of Columbia. The absence of the lottery in these states is due to religious objections, budgetary concerns, and other factors.
The history of lottery dates back to ancient times, with casting of lots used for decisions and determining fates. But the first recorded lottery to offer tickets with prizes in the form of money was held in the Low Countries in the 15th century, to fund town fortifications and help the poor. In the modern era, the lottery became an important source of revenue for state governments in an anti-tax era. Politicians have become dependent on the lottery and are reluctant to eliminate it.
In addition, the lottery has developed extensive specific constituencies—convenience store operators (lotteries sell a large share of their tickets through convenience stores); lottery suppliers (whose contributions to political campaigns are reported often); teachers (in those states where lottery revenues are earmarked for education); state legislators (who quickly grow accustomed to the extra cash); and, of course, state lotto players themselves.
People who play the lottery have several psychological motivations, according to Leaf Van Boven, a University of Colorado Boulder psychology professor. For example, they tend to overweight small probabilities: if something has a 1% probability of happening, they will treat it as though it has a 5% probability—a phenomenon known as decision weighting. Also, they have a tendency to imagine counterfactual scenarios after making a decision, imagining how they might have done differently. This is a common feature of decision-making, known as “choice regret.” This tendency to imagine what might have been after a choice is made helps explain why people continue to play the lottery. Despite these psychological motivations, the lottery is a very risky activity that does not deliver on its promises. The most important lesson from the story of Shirley Jackson is that it’s important to stand up for what you believe in, even if you are the only one to do so.