The lottery is a fixture of American life — it’s the most popular form of gambling. People spend upwards of $100 billion on tickets each year. But are the state-sponsored games a good thing? The answer depends on what your moral perspective is.
Generally speaking, the odds of winning a lottery are very low, especially in comparison to other types of gambling. However, the odds vary by how many tickets are sold and how many numbers you must match. In general, the more tickets are sold, the higher the odds of winning.
Lotteries have a long history and are found in cultures all over the world. In the US, Benjamin Franklin ran a lottery to help fund Boston’s Faneuil Hall in 1748 and George Washington used a lottery to raise money for a road across Virginia’s Mountain Pass in 1767.
Most states regulate and oversee their own lotteries. A regulating agency legislates a lottery, sets up a state corporation to run it (or licenses a private company in return for a percentage of revenues), begins operations with a modest number of relatively simple games and, as pressure for additional revenues mounts, progressively expands the lottery by adding new games.
Some critics charge that the lottery promotes dishonesty by presenting misleading information about the odds of winning (for example, citing unrealistic jackpot values); promoting a false sense of urgency for buying a ticket (the value of a prize is paid out in equal annual installments over 20 years, with taxes and inflation dramatically eroding the actual value of the prize); and encouraging people to play as a get-rich-quick scheme rather than working hard and saving money. The Bible encourages diligence in earning a living, and warns against trying to gain wealth dishonestly: “Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring riches” (Proverbs 24:24).