A lottery is a contest in which tokens are drawn randomly to determine the winner. It is used to fill vacancies in a sports team or for housing units, kindergarten placements, and so on. There are also lotteries in the financial world that dish out huge cash prizes to paying participants. Lotteries can be a fun pastime and can help you win big, but the odds of winning are low.
In the late twentieth century, many states legalized the lottery. This trend, writes Cohen, coincided with a surge in state funding deficits, caused by population growth and rising inflation. The deficits made it difficult for many states to balance their budgets without raising taxes or cutting services, a strategy that was very unpopular with voters.
Some states argued that lotteries were a legitimate form of gambling and that the proceeds could be used to support state services. Others dismissed long-standing ethical objections that the profits would be pocketed by the government. These arguments, he argues, were flawed. They misunderstood the nature of human greed and deceit.
The story in Shirley Jackson’s short story The Lottery is a great example of this. The villagers in the story are friendly and kind to each other before the ritual starts, but once they know who is going to be stoned to death, they turn against the chosen one. This is a classic case of hypocrisy and shows that human beings are evil by nature.