Official lottery (lottery) is a procedure for distributing something (usually money or prizes) among a group of people by lot or chance.

A lottery is a type of gambling in which many people purchase chances, called lottery tickets, and the winning tickets are drawn from a pool consisting of all tickets sold or offered for sale, or from all possible permutations of the numbers or symbols used on the tickets.

In the United States, there are forty-eight jurisdictions that operate lotteries. These include state-run games as well as multi-state lotteries that share a geographical footprint, including Powerball and Mega Millions.

There are also private lotteries that offer prizes without the participation of a government or state-run entity. These may be legal and may be used to raise funds for charitable causes or other activities that benefit society as a whole.

Proponents of lotteries argued that they would fund state services without raising taxes, which they believed would keep money in the pockets of average citizens. They claimed the proceeds from lottery games could be used to pay for education and other important public services.

They were backed by a variety of reasons, ranging from economic necessity to moral concern. But the main objections to lotteries were from devout Protestants who viewed them as sinful and unworthy of government sanction.

Moreover, critics pointed out that governments often used lottery proceeds to finance favored industries and services, which might be better funded by tax revenue. They cited the case of Ohio, where bingo games hosted by Catholic high schools raised more money than lottery proceeds in 1978.