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The lottery is an enormous business and a major source of state revenue, though it has come under increasing scrutiny for its impact on public spending. Its defenders, including Governor Michael R. Bloomberg, have portrayed it as “a tax on the stupid,” but the truth is that lottery participation responds to economic fluctuations and increases when unemployment, poverty rates, or incomes fall. Lottery sales also increase when advertising campaigns are aimed at poor and minority neighborhoods, as they often are.
Lottery games have been around for centuries. The first modern government-run lotteries appeared in the fourteen-hundreds, and the trend soon spread across Europe. In the seventeenth century, Benjamin Franklin organized one of America’s first lotteries to raise money for Philadelphia’s municipal improvements.
These days, the top prizes of multimillion-dollar jackpots drive lotteries’ sales. In the past, states subsidized these games to make them more accessible to all, but the rise of electronic media has reduced that incentive. Still, super-sized jackpots can make a big difference in the media’s coverage, and help to sustain interest in the games.