By admincan
The lottery is an arrangement in which prizes are allocated by chance. Traditionally, these are drawn at regular intervals in the presence of an impartial observer. Prizes can be money, goods, or services, or the chance to participate in an activity. Lotteries have a long history, and many cultures have used them to award land, property, slaves, or other prizes for centuries. In colonial America, a large number of lotteries were sanctioned between 1744 and 1776 and played an important role in financing both private and public ventures. Examples include the construction of roads, canals, bridges, and churches, as well as the foundation of Princeton and Columbia Universities.
The basic elements of a lottery are simple: the identities and amounts staked by each bettor are recorded, and each bettor writes his name or other symbol(s) on a ticket which is then deposited for shuffling and possible selection in the drawing. The drawing itself may be a mechanical procedure, such as shaking or tossing the tickets, but increasingly computer programs have been used.
Lotteries have broad public support, even among those who never play them. They are popular because they promise an apparently substantial monetary gain with relatively little risk; for many individuals, the disutility of the monetary loss is outweighed by the combined utility of entertainment and the hope of winning. Lottery players as a group add billions to state receipts that they could otherwise spend on food, education, or retirement savings.