The term lottery is used to describe a process of selecting the winner of a prize or event by random drawing. Examples include a lottery for units in a subsidized housing block or kindergarten placements at a reputable public school. In addition to the lotteries of housing and education, a financial lottery is one in which players pay $1 for a ticket, select a group of numbers or buy a “quick pick” that will randomly spit out numbers, and then win prizes if enough of their numbers match those drawn by machines.
In America, state governments set up and manage these financial lotteries. They often win broad public support for them by convincing voters that they serve a vital societal need, such as funding schools. Such messages are especially effective in times of economic stress, when states must confront demands for higher taxes or cut back on spending. However, studies have found that the objective fiscal health of a state government has little impact on whether or not it adopts a lottery.
Once a lottery is in place, it becomes self-sustaining through a network of specific constituencies. These include convenience store operators (the primary vendors for most lotteries); lottery suppliers, who make heavy contributions to state political campaigns; state legislators, whose budgets become dependent upon these “painless” revenues; and teachers, in states where the proceeds are earmarked for them. As a result, lottery play is highly concentrated among certain socio-economic groups. Men, for example, play more frequently than women; blacks and Hispanics, more than whites; the young and the old, less than those in the middle.
Lottery advertising also tends to reinforce these concentrations. In their ads, lottery commissions often present misleading information about the odds of winning a jackpot (which is typically paid in equal annual installments over 20 years, with inflation and taxes dramatically eroding its current value); encourage people to choose numbers such as birthdays or significant dates (the logic being that there are fewer other players choosing those numbers, which increases their chances of winning); and portray the process as a game of chance.
Although the lottery has long been a source of popular fascination, it is also a form of government regulation that raises ethical questions. For example, when state officials prioritize lottery revenues over other public needs, they may violate their constitutional duty to protect the welfare of their constituents.
In the short story “The Lottery,” Alice Jackson depicts an unnamed village whose residents gather to participate in an annual ritual. It is June, and the locals have a belief that this lottery will ensure a good harvest. Old Man Warner cites an ancient proverb: “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.”
The participants in this ritual are not unaware of the risks involved. But they are in denial about the extent to which their participation in it resembles a form of gambling. They are na
