The idea behind a lottery is that there’s some chance you could win something, and maybe even a lot. But a prize amount that’s big enough to make headlines isn’t the only factor in whether you’re going to buy tickets. What you really need to consider is how much you want that ticket, and what that desire might say about you.

In a nutshell, the definition of “lottery” is any competition in which tokens or numbers are assigned or sold and winners are selected by drawing lots; it can be a game sponsored by the state as a way of raising money. It can also refer to a specific contest or activity in which people are selected by random chance—for example, combat duty in the military, or being hired for a job.

While the idea of drawing lots to determine ownership or other rights is recorded in ancient documents, the modern lottery dates back to 1612, when King James I of England established a state lottery to raise funds for his Jamestown colony. The practice expanded in the 15th and 16th centuries throughout Europe, where public lotteries were used to raise money for towns, wars, universities, and other projects.

When states began introducing lotteries in the 1960s and 1970s, they generally did so as an additional source of revenue to help pay for expanding social safety nets without the onerous burden of increasing taxes on middle- and working-class citizens. Today, lotteries are a major source of revenues for many state governments, with the vast majority of those dollars spent on education and public works projects.

Despite their popularity, the fact that state lotteries are largely a form of gambling isn’t always welcomed by those who oppose them. Many critics cite the potential for compulsive gambling or other problems with the games, and argue that if they were to be banned, government budgets would shrink to unsustainable levels.

These arguments are important, but they may miss the point: the overwhelming majority of Americans support the lottery and play it regularly. Since New Hampshire launched the modern era of state lotteries in 1964, no lottery has ever been abolished, and nearly every state now offers some form of the games.

When a state enacts a lottery law, it creates a special division to administer the games. It selects and licenses retailers, oversees the sale and redemption of tickets, trains employees at those retailers to use lottery terminals, assists retailers in promoting the games, pays high-tier prizes, and ensures that players follow lottery laws. In some cases, such operations have been delegated to private companies that contract with the state to run its lottery.