Lottery is a game of chance in which players purchase tickets for a chance to win a prize. Typically the prize money is in the form of cash, although some lotteries offer prizes in the form of goods or services. The game of lottery has a long history and has been used for public and private purposes throughout the world. Lottery games are generally regulated by government agencies or independent corporations.

In the United States, state-run lotteries are popular forms of entertainment and raise billions of dollars each year. They are also a major source of revenue for education. In addition to a fixed percentage of proceeds from each ticket sold, they receive additional funds based on average daily attendance for K-12 schools and full-time enrollment for community college and higher education institutions.

The earliest lotteries were recorded in the Low Countries in the 15th century, when towns raised money for town fortifications and the poor. The word “lottery” comes from Middle Dutch loterij, which is thought to be a calque on Middle French loterie, or the action of drawing lots.

Lottery advertising often focuses on two messages. The first is to emphasize that the money spent on a ticket will go to some supposedly positive state purpose such as education. The second is to highlight the potential for an enormous windfall. These massive jackpots draw attention and increase sales, and they fuel speculation about how much the top prize will grow to an apparently newsworthy amount in the next drawing.