A lottery is an organized activity where individuals buy tickets with the hopes of winning one of the many prizes available. The history of lotteries dates back to ancient times, when people would draw lots to determine who owned what. By the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, lotteries became popular in Europe. In 1612, King James I of England created a lottery to provide funds for settling Jamestown in Virginia. Later, governments and private organizations began using the lottery to raise funds for public works, towns, and wars.

The modern lottery game has several distinct types. There are lotto games, lottery games with random numbers and scratch games. In most lotteries, players choose six numbers from a large pool of numbers and then receive prizes based on the number of numbers they match with the randomly chosen second set. Those who match all six numbers win the major prize, while others can win prizes by matching three or four numbers.

Retailers in many states sell lottery tickets. The NASPL Web site lists nearly 186,000 lottery retailers. Among them, California, Texas, and New York have the highest number of retail outlets. Over three-fourths of the retailers offer online services. The majority of lottery retailers are convenience stores, and about half are nonprofit organizations. Other retailers include newsstands and restaurants.