A lottery is any scheme for the distribution of prizes by chance. Lottery is also a term used to describe the process of allocating limited resources, such as housing units in a subsidized apartment building or kindergarten placements at a reputable public school. While these kinds of lotteries do not rely on chance, they still involve a process that must be considered fair for all applicants.
Similarly, a business may run a lottery to select employees for a specific job. In this case, the employee pool is large, and the number of available jobs is relatively small. The lottery is a mechanism for choosing the subset of employees who have the greatest chance of being selected.
Lottery is a popular source of revenue for states. But state-run lotteries are not as transparent as a sales tax, and consumers are often unaware of the implicit taxes that they pay when they buy tickets. A large percentage of lottery revenue is paid out in prize money, which reduces the proportion that is available to help with things like education.
Some people are simply addicted to gambling, and the allure of winning big is enough to keep them buying lottery tickets for decades. Others have the financial means to limit their lottery spending, but they are driven by an irrational belief that they will be rich someday. Gallup polls show that lottery playing is most popular among the economically disadvantaged, who are least likely to stick with their budgets and trim unnecessary expenses.