Lottery is an ancient pastime, rooted in the Bible (Moses used it to distribute land), Roman Saturnalias (Nero loved them), and the colonial American experience. But Cohen’s story mainly concerns the modern American lottery, which grew up during the nineteen sixties as states struggled to balance their budgets without raising taxes or cutting services, both of which would have alienated anti-tax voters.

Lotteries were a natural fit, as they offered an easy-to-spread, low-risk revenue source that could be matched to a specific line item in the state budget. They also offered a chance to win big prizes, which could be a cash amount or goods, such as a car or a vacation.

A crucial aspect of any lottery is the drawing, a procedure that selects winners from a pool or set of tickets. This may involve shaking or tossing the tickets, or the use of a computer that generates random numbers for each ticket. The result is that chance, not human bias, determines who will win.

The odds of winning the jackpot prize, however, become worse over time, as the organizers raise the price and add more numbers to the draw. While the state receives 40% of the total winnings, these funds are split between commissions for the retailers and the overhead for the lottery system itself, so only a tiny percentage ends up in the winner’s pocket. The rest is spent on marketing and administration, which means that even if the average person does not win the jackpot prize, they will have been exposed to advertising.