The Lottery

The Lottery, Shirley Jackson’s short story, describes a small village whose residents participate in an annual lottery. The citizens place paper slips into a roughed-up black box during the town’s annual celebration and, when all the ballots have been cast, one of them is selected to be killed. The villager’s behavior is controlled by tradition and ritual, a belief that the killing of one of their number each year brings prosperity to the community.

In the modern world government-operated lotteries exist in at least 100 countries on every inhabited continent. State lotteries are widely regarded as effective methods of raising revenue for states and local governments, and they enjoy broad public support. They also have the potential to boost the economy, provide tax relief, and improve educational outcomes for lower-income citizens.

Lottery revenues typically expand dramatically after a lottery’s introduction and then begin to plateau. To sustain their growth, lottery operators introduce new games and aggressively promote them. This strategy often proves controversial and has spawned serious questions about the social desirability of the lottery, such as its effects on poor people, problem gamblers, and others.

Lotteries are also subject to intense criticism because they run like a business with a clear focus on maximizing profits. As a result, they tend to develop extensive specific constituencies, including convenience store owners (the main vendors); lottery suppliers (heavy contributions to state political campaigns are regularly reported); teachers in states where lottery funds are earmarked for education; and even state legislators who come to depend on the revenue.