The official lottery is the procedure for distributing something (usually money or prizes) among a group of people, such as participants in a state-sponsored game. Lotteries are popular in many countries and have been used to raise money for everything from public works projects to disaster relief. Despite the large sums raised, lottery critics argue that they are fundamentally flawed. They point out that, in addition to skewed distribution of winnings, they are regressive and take a disproportionate toll on low-income citizens. They also question the ethics of promoting government services with gambling funds.
As more states began to feel desperate for ways to fund their budgets without rousing an anti-tax populace, the lottery gained in popularity. The first public lotteries were designed to help finance the American Revolution, and later, a series of smaller public lotteries helped build Harvard, Dartmouth, Yale, King’s College (now Columbia), William and Mary, and other prominent institutions of higher learning.
In the 1800s, state lotteries came under fire from detractors on both sides of the political aisle and from all walks of life, Cohen explains. Some devout Protestants were against them because they viewed government-sanctioned gambling as immoral. Others questioned the amount of money that states actually stood to gain from the games. (As an example, he points out that bingo games hosted by Ohio Catholic high schools take in more money than the state lottery does.)
As a result, the early era of state lotteries ended with corruption scandals that ultimately led to their downfall. A few were able to survive, including the notoriously corrupt Louisiana State Lottery Company, but by 1890, Congress passed a law prohibiting interstate lottery promotion and sales, effectively killing off state lotteries in America for a time.