Lottery is a form of gambling in which a person buys tickets for a chance to win a prize. The person wins the prize if their numbers match those selected at random by a machine. State governments promote lotteries as ways to raise money for a variety of projects, and people spend billions on tickets each year.

In some cases, the prize is a lump sum of cash; in others, it is a series of payments over time. To guarantee that the prizes will be paid, the lottery typically purchases zero-coupon U.S. Treasury bonds, a type of investment security. These bonds are also known as STRIPS (Separate Trading of Registered Interest and Principal of Securities).

The word lottery comes from the Middle Dutch word loterie, from the Latin for “drawing lots” or “choosing by lot.” Although there is debate about the origin of the word, it is clear that the process has been around for centuries. The Old Testament reveals that Moses conducted a lottery to divide land among the people; Roman emperors gave away property and slaves through lotteries, and colonial America saw many public lotteries, including those for lands, goods, and college scholarships.

Lotteries are often promoted with claims that they will solve a host of social problems. But the truth is that gambling is a vice that leads to addiction and other serious problems. Moreover, people who play the lottery are often motivated by a desire for more wealth and possessions than they have, a temptation that God warns against (Exodus 20:17; 1 Timothy 6:10).