The lottery is a big business, and it’s one that isn’t for everyone. But the glitz and glamour of winning the jackpot, even if it’s just for a million dollars, can lull people into an all-too-familiar trap. The hope of a big windfall is just another form of covetousness, and God forbids it: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house, his wife, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that is his” (Exodus 20:17).
Lottery began in the Low Countries around 1445, and some of its earliest known tickets included words such as “lucky” and “price.” In the early 1800s, Denmark Vesey used his lottery win to buy his freedom from slavery, and Benjamin Franklin ran a lotto to help fund a militia to protect Philadelphia from French attacks and to rebuild Faneuil Hall in Boston. But a combination of moral, religious, and political sensibilities turned against gambling in general and lotteries in particular.
Among other things, they were seen as a way to get state governments off the hook for taxes and into an endless cycle of borrowing. Moreover, they were popular in the Northeast, where states had bigger social safety nets and might have needed some extra revenue without burdening the middle class and working class with higher taxes. This arrangement started to fall apart in the 1960s, and state governments have been grappling with it ever since. The current popularity of the lottery is largely driven by a player base that’s disproportionately low-income, less educated, nonwhite, and male.
