What is Lottery?
Lottery, also called lotto, is a form of gambling in which people purchase numbered tickets to win a prize, usually cash. The numbers are drawn by chance in a random procedure. Lotteries are often sponsored by state or organization as a means of raising funds. Lotteries are often opposed by critics as a form of gambling, but they have historically played a major role in financing private and public projects such as building the British Museum and many colonial public works like canals, bridges, churches, colleges, and libraries. They are still widely used in many countries for military conscription, commercial promotions in which property is given away by a random process, and selection of jury members.
A lottery must have a way of recording the identities and amounts staked by bettors and the number(s) or symbols on each ticket, and of determining later whether a particular ticket was selected in the winning drawing. This may involve some mechanical procedure such as shaking or tossing, or it may be accomplished by the use of computers that record the number(s) or symbol(s) on each ticket.
A prize or a lump sum of money is awarded to the winner(s) after the costs and profits for the promoter are deducted from the pool of tickets sold. The amount of the prize varies, but it is usually a relatively large amount of money. The name lottery is probably derived from the Greek