Lottery is a game where people pay to enter for a chance to win a prize, usually money. The winners are chosen at random by a drawing, with a prize ranging from small items to large sums of money. The games are regulated by governments to ensure that they are fair and legal.

The first European public lotteries appeared in 15th-century Burgundy and Flanders, where towns used them to raise funds for a variety of purposes, including repairing defenses and aiding the poor. King Francis I of France subsidized public lotteries in several cities between 1520 and 1539. A similar type of lottery, the ventura, was popular in Italy from 1476.

Many people play the lottery because they enjoy the entertainment value and other non-monetary benefits of playing. The disutility of a monetary loss can be outweighed by the expected utility from other gains, such as entertainment and social status, which make playing the lottery a rational decision for some individuals.

Most state lotteries are now run as a percentage of revenue, meaning that the organizers take a share of each ticket purchase. This approach erodes the popularity of the game and reduces its overall revenue potential. Nevertheless, the majority of states continue to operate lotteries.

Lottery advertising promotes the message that everyone likes to gamble and the lottery is a great way to do it. This obscures the regressivity of lotteries and their reliance on lower-income, less educated, and nonwhite people. It also hides the fact that gambling on a lottery is still a significant part of many people’s incomes.