Lottery is a game of chance in which numbers or names are drawn at random for a prize. Some governments outlaw it, while others endorse it and organize a national or state lottery. It is also the name for the process of drawing lots to allocate a fixed sum of money to various projects.

The earliest known lotteries were held in the Low Countries during the 15th century, to raise money for town fortifications or to help the poor. One such lottery, dated 9 May 1445 at L’Ecluse, offered tickets for sale with a prize of 1737 florins (worth about US$170,000 in 2014).

In the English State Lottery (later known as the National Lottery) of 1694 to 1826, tickets could be purchased for a fixed amount of cash or goods. Alternatively, the prize fund might be a percentage of total receipts (known as a “proportional” lottery).

A popular lottery game in the early 19th century was the “sorteo extraordinario de Navidad” (SOR’-te-o ekstraordi’-narjo de NE’Vah-di’-tirah) or ‘NAVIDAD’S EXTRAORDINARY LOTTERY’ (LOTTERIA DE NAVIDAD) held in Valencia by a branch of the Spanish Public Administration called Loterias y Apuestas del Estado’. It was the second longest-running lottery in history, and it is now a national holiday in Spain.

Many people buy lottery tickets because they enjoy the entertainment value of hoping to become wealthy, or because they believe that it is a painless form of taxation. Regardless of the motive, purchasing lottery tickets cannot be justified by decisions based on expected value maximization. Lottery scams are common, and they can include the sale of software or systems that purport to improve a player’s chances by eliminating bad numbers.