The lottery is the most popular form of gambling in America, with players spending upwards of $100 billion a year. And the government promotes it as a way to raise money, arguing that the public benefits outweigh the trade-off of people losing their hard-earned dollars. But it’s worth asking whether the lottery is a good idea, particularly given its many social costs.
The narrator of Jackson’s novel first introduces us to the town’s lottery, which takes place at the local church. The master of ceremonies is Mr. Summers, a man without children, who has a black box, which he places on a three-legged stool in the center of the room. The narrator describes how, even though much of the original lottery paraphernalia has been lost, everyone respects the sense of tradition conferred on this box, which he says is rumored to contain pieces of an older one.
Lotteries have a long history, and are generally seen as a form of euphemistic taxation, or “voluntary taxes.” The first recorded lotteries were held in the Low Countries in the 15th century to raise money for town fortifications and to help the poor. But they became more common in colonial America, where they played a large role in financing public and private ventures, including the building of churches, schools, canals, roads, bridges, and colleges. The American colonies also held lotteries to fund their local militias, and Benjamin Franklin sponsored a lottery in 1776 to try to raise money for a battery of guns to defend Philadelphia against the British.
Despite the long history of lotteries, debate and criticism over them tend to focus on specific features of lottery operations rather than on their general desirability. For example, critics often point to the problem of compulsive gamblers or the regressive impact on lower-income communities, and they argue that it’s difficult to justify lottery funding in light of these problems.
But even if these problems could be overcome, the fact remains that lotteries are inherently addictive and often regressive, and they are not a great way to fund state programs. In addition to their high prices and low chances of winning, they entice people with false promises that money will solve all their problems. This is a violation of God’s commandment against covetousness, which reads: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house, his wife, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to him.” (Exodus 20:17) In the end, it is impossible for anyone to keep all the riches they might win in a lottery. The real prize is a life of regrets. And the people who play the lottery, like those who run it, are ultimately a part of the problem. They suck in people with the promise of wealth and power that never comes. This is not a recipe for social justice.