Lottery
A game of chance in which tokens are sold and prizes awarded by drawing lots. The game is sometimes used by states to raise funds for public projects. In colonial America, the lottery was a major means of financing town fortifications, canals, bridges, schools and churches, as well as militias. The word derives from Latin lotteria, the practice of distributing property by lot.
I’ve spoken with a number of lottery players, people who have been playing for years, spending $50 or $100 a week. Despite the fact that they know the odds are long, they seem to go into the games clear-eyed and rational. They have all sorts of quote-unquote systems, about lucky numbers and lucky stores and times of day to buy tickets.
They also understand that the odds of winning a particular jackpot are lower in some states than in others. And they understand that a good strategy is to pick multiple numbers from the pool of possibilities. It’s not just the number that ends with a zero that is important, it’s how many total numbers you have, because you want to spread out your risk.
A lot of people play the lottery because they want to win enough money to quit their jobs. But studies show that most lottery winners lose much of their fortune shortly after their windfall. One of the reasons is that they often make drastic life changes soon after winning, like buying a new car or a home.