Official lottery is a form of gambling in which numbers are drawn at random for a prize. Some governments outlaw it, while others endorse it and organize a state or national lottery. In New York, proceeds from the lottery are used for education. The lottery was first established in 1967. Since then, over 34 billion dollars have been generated in revenue to aid education in the city.

The original era of American lotteries was characterized by corruption and mismanagement, but eventually the practice gained traction, fueled in part by states’ need for revenue. In addition, the public’s view of lotteries as a source of “taxes hidden in plain sight” helped fuel their popularity, writes Jonathan Cohen.

People like to gamble, and lotteries appeal to that impulse by dangling the promise of instant riches. But they do more than that, Cohen argues. They also reinforce societal inequalities and limit social mobility by encouraging people to spend large amounts of their income on tickets.

The problem with this argument is that it doesn’t explain why states need to rely on lotteries for revenue in the first place. They might be able to generate more than they could from a tax increase, but it’s hard to imagine that lottery profits would be enough to keep states out of trouble.