Lottery is a form of gambling in which numbers or other symbols are drawn to determine a winner. It may also refer to a system by which people are selected for something that is limited in supply, such as housing units in a subsidized apartment building or kindergarten placements at a school. People pay a small amount for the chance to win a prize. The narrator and the audience are both aware that someone is going to die, but the story never explicitly says who. As the narrator explains, the lottery is an old tradition that has been practiced for generations. The villagers know that they are unlikely to win, but they believe that somebody must.
The first modern state lottery began in New Hampshire in 1964, but private lotteries have been common since the American Revolution. The Continental Congress held a lottery to raise funds for cannons to defend Philadelphia, and Benjamin Franklin sponsored an unsuccessful lottery to help alleviate his debts. Privately organized lotteries are still common, especially among those with the lowest incomes. Several studies show that people with lower incomes play the lottery at significantly higher rates than those with higher incomes.
The use of lots to make decisions and determine fates has a long history, including in the Bible. The casting of lots for material gain is even older, with the earliest public lotteries to award prize money being recorded in the Low Countries in the 15th century to raise money for town fortifications and to help the poor. Lotteries have continued to grow in popularity ever since.