What is a Lottery?

Lottery is a game of chance in which people pay a small amount to try to win a much larger sum of money. The money is typically used for a good cause. Examples include a lottery for housing in a subsidized apartment complex or kindergarten placements at a public school. These kinds of lotteries are usually run by governments. People who play the financial lottery covet money and the things that money can buy. God forbids covetousness (Exodus 20:17; 1 Timothy 6:10).

Lotteries were introduced in the Low Countries in the 15th century, and records show that they raised money for town fortifications and to help the poor. They were popular in England and France, where Francis I introduced the first French state lottery. In the US, Benjamin Franklin and George Washington ran a lotteries to raise funds for their projects. George Washington’s Mountain Road Lottery was a failure, but his signature tickets became collector items.

The American state lottery is now a multi-billion dollar industry, and Americans spend more than $80 billion per year on tickets. In addition to the money that goes to winners, a large portion of the proceeds is distributed to educational institutions in each county. Click a county on the map or type the name of a county to see how much Lottery funds are being dispersed in that area. Lottery funds are based on average daily attendance and full-time enrollment for K-12 and community college districts, and on the number of students in higher education for state universities and specialized institutions.