If you’ve ever played the lottery, you’ve probably dreamed about what you would do if you won the jackpot. Some think of immediate spending sprees, fancy cars or luxury holidays; others might pay off their mortgages or student loans; and still others might put the money into a variety of savings or investments accounts.

The idea of using chance to award prizes has been around for a long time, with some of the first known lottery drawings occurring in the Roman Empire. During the Saturnalian revelries of the season, each guest was given a ticket and could win prizes such as fine dinnerware.

Lotteries are government-sponsored games of chance, and the word comes from Middle Dutch loterie, a calque on the Latin loterie “action of drawing lots”. They can be both financial, where participants place small amounts of money for the chance of winning a large prize, and non-financial, where the proceeds are used for charitable or public purposes.

State lotteries are widely popular, generating billions of dollars in revenues each year. But they also raise questions about how to manage gambling and the role of government at any level, especially in an era of anti-tax sentiment. Revenues typically expand quickly, but can then plateau or even decline, prompting the introduction of new games to maintain or increase sales. A high-profile winner can generate a lot of free publicity on news websites and broadcasts, but this isn’t always enough to sustain growth in the game.