a gambling game or method of raising money, as for some public charitable purpose, in which a large number of tickets are sold and a drawing is held for certain prizes.

A lottery is an arrangement in which prizes are allocated by a process that depends entirely on chance. Historically, lotteries have been a popular means of raising funds for a variety of purposes, including war taxes. In colonial era America, Benjamin Franklin organized a lottery to raise money for the building of the British Museum and to purchase cannons for the defense of Philadelphia, and George Washington sponsored a lottery in 1768 to build a road across the Blue Ridge Mountains.

In modern times, a lottery is often a commercial promotion in which a large prize, usually cash or goods, is offered to a small group of people with tickets purchased by the general public. The amount of the prize money is typically determined by the total value of all tickets sold, minus expenses and the promoter’s profit. The winning tickets are usually chosen by a random procedure, such as drawing numbers from a hat or rolling a dice.

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