The lottery has a long history in many countries. The casting of lots for determining fates and distributing wealth has roots in antiquity, and the modern state-sponsored lottery was first introduced in 1625 in the Netherlands. Initially, the states viewed the lotteries as a way to raise money for a variety of public purposes, including education and infrastructure projects. State officials often struggle to balance these goals with the desire for steady growth in lottery revenues, which leads to expansion into new games and an aggressive marketing campaign.
Most lottery players play the numbers game or keno. The numbers are drawn randomly from a pool or collection of tickets or counterfoils. To ensure that the winning numbers are selected at random, these tickets and their counterfoils must be thoroughly mixed before a drawing takes place. Originally, the mixing was done by hand, but more recently computers have been used to prepare the ticket pool.
One message that lottery marketers rely on is to tell people that it is fun to buy a ticket, and to emphasize the experience of scratching the ticket. This sends the impression that lottery play is harmless, and it obscures the regressivity of lottery participation.
In addition, lottery marketers promote the idea that it is a civic duty to support the lottery because of the public benefits it provides. This is an argument that plays at cross-purposes with the notion of a constitutionally limited government, as it suggests that the state can compel citizens to spend their own money on gambling and that governments are in some sense immune from the same social pressures that apply to private businesses.