The lottery may seem like a modern phenomenon that birthed Instagram and the Kardashians, but its roots are as old as America itself. Historically, lotteries were an easy and painless way for a state to raise money for anything from building town fortifications to feeding the poor. Today, 44 states and the District of Columbia run a lottery. Six don’t, and their reasons range from religious beliefs (Alabama and Utah) to fiscal concerns (Mississippi and Nevada, home to the gambling mecca of Las Vegas).

But even without a state-sponsored lottery, there are plenty of ways to win cash prizes. You can buy a chance at a million-dollar jackpot on an instant game, or you can buy tickets for a multi-state lottery. If you’re a sports fan, you can also enter a lottery to be the first to draft a player for your favorite team.

Lotteries are games of chance in which winners are determined by a random process. The prizes in a lottery can be money, goods, services, or even real estate. In the United States, lottery proceeds are used for education, public works projects, and other purposes specified by law. A lottery is also a method for allocating a limited resource, such as kindergarten admissions, subsidized housing units, or vaccines against rapidly spreading infectious diseases.

The word “lottery” comes from the Dutch noun lot, meaning fate or destiny. The origin of the English word is less certain, but it could be a calque of Middle Dutch loterie, or the action of drawing lots. Lotteries are popular in many countries, but are most prevalent in states that regulate and organize them. Each lottery is a monopoly governed by state laws and overseen by a government agency or publicly owned corporation. Most lotteries start out with a small number of relatively simple games and then expand over time. They can become quite complex, with multiple types of games and different prize levels.

The average person who plays the lottery has a reasonable expectation of winning a prize, but not a large one. The chances of winning depend on the size and value of the prize, how much it costs to participate, and whether or not a person has an aversion to losing money. The utility of winning is greater than the disutility of losing, so if an individual expects to gain enough utility from the purchase of a ticket to justify the cost, it is rational for them to do so.