Official Lottery – Play the official state lottery games on your phone (except while crossing streets or operating motor vehicles or chain saws). It’s fun, informative, and secure.
The earliest recorded lotteries may have been held in the Low Countries in the 15th century, when town records show people raising money to build walls and fortifications. In early America, despite devout Protestants’ aversion to gambling, lotteries became a major source of state revenue, used to pay for everything from civil defense to the construction of churches and colleges. The Continental Congress even ran a lottery to raise funds for the Revolutionary War.
But critics arose from both sides of the political aisle and from many walks of life. Lottery opponents questioned both the ethics of government-sanctioned gambling and how much states really stood to gain from the scheme. Some even portrayed it as a “tax on the stupid.”
Nevertheless, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, state lotteries became an ever-larger part of the national economy, with Americans spending about $100 billion a year on tickets. State governments have also used the revenue to fund a wide range of public services, from education to elder care and public parks.
In addition to providing money for government services, the lottery also provides a lucrative opportunity for private businesses and individuals to make profits by selling tickets to win big prizes. The proliferation of state-run lotteries, and the rise of multistate games like Powerball and Mega Millions, has led to an explosion of marketing activities aimed at winning people’s attention and pocketbooks.