A competition based on chance in which numbered tickets are sold and prizes are given to the holders of numbers drawn at random. Prizes may be money or goods. Some governments outlaw lotteries, while others endorse them and regulate them to some extent. The term is also used to refer to a particular lottery, or a particular drawing of the numbers. The earliest recorded lottery was organized by the Roman Emperor Augustus, who offered a prize of fancy items such as dinnerware to every ticket holder at his Saturnalia parties. The first European lotteries to award money prizes in the modern sense of the word began in the 15th century, when a number of towns held public lotteries to raise funds for town fortifications and poor relief. They became a popular form of public financing throughout the 17th century and were praised by Francis I of France as a painless form of taxation.
In many lotteries, people can choose to receive their winnings in either annual installments or as a lump sum. Advertised jackpots are typically based on the amount of the annuity payouts, but most winners take the lump sum option because it allows them full access to their winnings right away and avoids the hefty income taxes they would otherwise incur over decades.
The bestselling novel The Lottery (1944) by Shirley Jackson explores the way that winning the lottery can change people for the worse. The characters in this story begin to lose their senses after they win the lottery, and they become less concerned with helping their fellow citizens or pursuing intellectual pursuits. They are also willing to sacrifice their own lives for the sake of the prize, as evidenced by a family member murdering her husband after they win the lottery.
