A lottery is a process by which prizes are allocated to people in a group through a random selection of numbers or symbols. The lottery is most often used to award cash prizes, although it may also be applied to other arrangements such as filling a vacancy in a sports team among equally competing players, placements in a school or university, etc. The basic elements of a lottery include a pool of prizes, some means of selecting winners, and a means of recording the identities and amounts staked by bettors. The latter might be a name entered on a list, a ticket, or a receipt that is deposited for later shuffling and selection, or a computer-generated set of numbers.
The first recorded lotteries were public games of chance to raise funds for town fortifications and the poor in the Low Countries in the 15th century. The word “lottery” probably derives from Middle Dutch lotinge, a verb meaning “to draw lots.”
The lottery became common in colonial America, despite Protestant prohibitions against gambling. It was used to finance the settlement of the continent and the construction of canals, roads, churches, colleges, and private enterprises. Today, most states run their own state-sponsored lotteries to raise money for public projects. In addition, private firms sell commercial lotteries to raise money for private projects.