Lottery is a form of gambling where people purchase tickets for a chance to win a prize, often a large sum of money. Lotteries are run by state and federal governments.

Unlike most other forms of gambling, lottery profits are not derived from wagers and instead come from the public’s willingness to hazard a small amount for the chance of a large gain. The resulting revenues are often used to finance a variety of government projects and programs.

But despite the government’s claim that lotteries are not gambling, they are in many ways very similar. In an era of anti-tax attitudes, state governments are increasingly dependent on lottery revenues to finance a host of activities, and in many cases officials introduce new games to sustain or increase these revenues.

For example, lotteries frequently advertise the huge prizes of mega-jackpots in order to generate interest in a game. But mega-jackpots are not sustainable, and the corresponding advertising is often misleading. For example, a jackpot advertised as paying millions of dollars will actually be paid in annual installments over 20 years, with inflation dramatically eroding the current value.

Another common strategy is to make the top prizes appear bigger by allowing them to roll over (amounts that are not won in a drawing are added to the next one). But these promotions have also been criticized for distorting the playing field. For example, studies show that the majority of lottery players are from middle-income neighborhoods, while fewer play from low-income ones.