The New York Lottery is one of the leading state-run lotteries in the US. It was established in 1967 after the approval of a constitutional amendment by the majority of New Yorkers. It has been the source of numerous civic projects including New York City Hall, and contributed to the development of several roads, canals, ferries, and manufacturing industries in the state. The lottery profits have also been used to help and support education.
Despite the many benefits of the New York Lottery, critics have raised concerns about how it preys on the poor. Some of these critics argue that the lottery is a form of hidden tax because a significant portion of the profits are distributed as prizes, rather than as direct government spending. Other opponents have argued that the lottery is an undemocratic means of raising money because it circumvents popular votes on the question of taxation.
The modern history of the official lottery, Cohen argues, began in the nineteen-sixties, when growing awareness of the huge amounts to be made in gambling collided with a crisis in state funding. In many states, he says, the growth of population and inflation combined with the cost of wars and welfare made balancing budgets increasingly difficult. For politicians, facing pressure to raise taxes or cut services, a lottery seemed like an ideal solution: it could make revenue appear almost magically out of thin air. Hence, he says, the proliferation of state lotteries.