The lottery is a game in which people pay money to win prizes by matching numbers drawn randomly. Most governments regulate this activity, and the prizes are often cash or goods. Many people view the lottery as a harmless form of entertainment, but some have been harmed by it. Some have even lost their homes. The word lottery comes from the Dutch verb loten, meaning “to throw” or “to draw lots”.
During the 17th century, it was common in the Netherlands to organize public lotteries in order to raise funds for many different purposes. The first official state-run lotteries in the world were organized in the city of Amsterdam in 1621, and, until they were banned by the House of Commons in 1699, they continued to be widely used. Lotteries accounted for half of the yearly income of the Dutch East India Company by that time, and the company’s lotteries influenced similar public ones in England. These were later replaced by charitable and civic lotteries, which continue to be popular today.
In the village of “That Region”, in the state of Kentucky, an annual lottery is held each June. The participants all know that the odds of winning are very slim, but they still participate in the ritual. The narrator notes that it is an activity much like the square dances, the teenage club, and the Halloween program. It is one of the ways that the villagers keep their lives in balance, along with other activities such as planting and rain, tractors and taxes.
The narrator also observes that the participants of the lottery are clear-eyed about the odds of winning, and that they have quote-unquote systems of selecting tickets in order to maximize their chances of winning. This is a good point, but it does not detract from the fact that the lottery is not fair. The complaint of Mrs. Hutchinson at the end of the story, that “It isn’t right,” could be seen as poetic justice. She has taken part in the lottery, and she reaps what she has sown.
The lottery has become a big business, with multimillion dollar jackpots and a host of smaller prizes. Those who do win have to be prepared for the fact that they will be heavily taxed. In addition, they may be tempted to spend the winnings on things that will not bring them happiness or health. This is not the kind of thing that we should want in our society. We need to think about the needs of the most vulnerable in our society, not those who are sleepwalking into wealth. We should remember that people who win the lottery usually go bankrupt in a few years. If we really care about the poor, we should stop funding this destructive practice. Instead, we should focus on giving more direct aid to the needy. This would be a much more effective way to help them than spending billions on a hopeless gamble.
