The Truth About Lottery Advertising
A lottery is a contest that promises a high prize to a select few winners, while leaving most other participants with a low chance of winning. Lotteries can be state-run, or can be private organizations. They can be used to determine a wide range of prizes, including land, money, cars, vacations, and other items. They are also commonly used to select employees and students.
The idea of drawing lots to determine property distribution dates back to ancient times. The Bible cites the practice in Numbers 26:55-57, and Roman emperors often distributed slaves and even property during Saturnalian feasts by drawing wood with symbols on them. During the 17th century, many colonial-era Americans participated in lotteries to finance projects like building schools and paving streets. In fact, George Washington sponsored a lottery in 1768 to fund a road across the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Modern-day state-sponsored lotteries usually involve a pool of money that includes a large grand prize, plus other smaller prizes. The total value of the pool depends on the size of ticket sales and other factors. Some lotteries use a random number generator to choose the winner, while others let players pick their own numbers or combinations of letters and numbers.
Lottery promoters and their advertising frequently present false or misleading information, commonly overstating the odds of winning a jackpot (which can be paid in yearly installments for 20 years with inflation dramatically eroding the current value); inflating the amount of money available from a given prize, such as a car or a home; inflating the cost of a ticket, especially when tickets are sold at higher prices; and inflating the percentage of revenue returned to the state from the lottery.
Despite the misleading and deceptive messages of lottery advertising, there is no doubt that the game attracts players with a fundamental desire to gamble. However, it is important to note that most of the time, state-sponsored lotteries rely on a second message to sustain their popularity: They say that playing the lottery is a civic duty to support public services. In reality, most of the money lotteries raise for the states is spent on marketing and profit.
Lottery promotions aimed at the general public typically feature prominent billboards touting the size of a jackpot, which are intended to encourage people to buy tickets. But they ignore the fact that most people who play the lottery are not poor and do not spend a great deal of their incomes on tickets. Moreover, these promotional messages tend to ignore the fact that lotteries are a form of gambling and imply that those who play the lottery are not good citizens. It is unclear whether the government should be promoting gambling in this way at all.
