New York State Lottery offers a variety of games including the popular Take5. To play, pick five numbers from 1 to 39. The winnings are determined by the number of correct numbers selected. The odds of winning the lottery are approximately one in three million. If you purchase a ticket, you’ll receive a receipt that is valid for tax deduction purposes. The receipt must be kept with the original lottery ticket.

The modern version of the lottery began, Cohen writes, in the nineteen-sixties, when “growing awareness of all the money to be made in gambling collided with a crisis in state funding.” Many states, particularly those that provided generous social safety nets, were struggling to balance their budgets without hiking taxes or cutting services—both of which were highly unpopular with voters. Lotteries, it seemed, were a way to raise funds seemingly out of thin air.

Early America was a society defined by exigency, and while Puritans viewed gambling as a sin, it soon became a vital source of revenue for towns, cities, colleges, and even the Continental Congress. Even so, it was always a controversial practice—with some opponents calling it morally unconscionable.

Lottery winners often face intense pressure from financial advisors, solicitors, and family members who want to help them manage their wealth. In 2019, New York State Senator Joe Addabbo saw this firsthand when 24 lottery winners approached him for legal assistance. He reintroduced a bill this year to let winners form LLCs—the only existing legal avenue for them to shield their identities from the public—but it won’t be considered until next year at the earliest.