A competition based on chance, in which numbered tickets are sold and prizes given to the holders of numbers drawn at random. Lotteries are often used to raise money for public projects, such as building units in subsidized housing or placing children into kindergarten.
In the US, people spent about $100 billion on lottery tickets in 2021. State governments promote the games as a way to raise revenue without burdening residents with higher taxes. But that message misses the big picture: the money generated by lottery tickets is only a small percentage of overall state revenues. And there are many costs that lottery participants overlook.
One of the most obvious is that playing the lottery is an addictive form of gambling. People are lured in by promises that their lives will improve if they win the jackpot. But this is not true. People who win the lottery can be as miserable as those who lose. In fact, many people who win the lottery find themselves in worse financial circumstances than they were before.
Another problem with the lottery is that it encourages covetousness. People who play the lottery assume that they will be able to buy everything they want with their winnings, but God forbids covetousness: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house, his field, or his manservant, his female servant, his ox, or his ass, or anything that is his” (Exodus 20:17; see also Ecclesiastes 5:10). Instead, we should strive to gain wealth through hard work and stewardship, not by luck.
