A lot of people like to gamble, and lottery games are one of the most popular forms of gambling in America. People spend upwards of $100 billion on tickets each year, and states promote the games as a way to raise money. But how meaningful that revenue is in broader state budgets and the trade-offs for people who lose money deserves some scrutiny.
The practice of determining fates by casting lots has a long history, with many examples in the Bible and ancient texts. The earliest lottery-like events were in the Low Countries in the 15th century, raising funds for town fortifications and helping the poor. The term “lottery” probably comes from Middle Dutch, a calque on the French word loterie, which was used in printed ads of the day, and was first recorded in English in 1612.
It’s not easy to win the lottery, but there are some tricks that can help you increase your chances of success. Among them is to avoid numbers in clusters, or those that end in the same digit. You can also try to chart the random outside numbers that repeat on each ticket and look for a group of singletons. These will be your best bet for a winning ticket. The woman who won the Mega Millions jackpot in 2016 did so by using her family birthdays and seven as her lucky numbers.
