Despite the omnipresent knowledge that winning the lottery is a long shot, many people persist in buying tickets. Whether this reflects a meritocratic belief that everyone should have the chance to get rich, or a subconscious desire to dodge state taxes, it can lead to serious problems for those who do win. Some of these are well-documented; others are less known and more insidious, such as the effect that large sums of money can have on family dynamics.

A number of issues arise in the course of running a lottery as a public service. The first is that the promotion of gambling goes at cross-purposes with states’ responsibilities to serve the general population. This is exacerbated by the way that, with their focus on maximizing revenues, lottery officials are in competition with each other to convince potential customers to spend their money on tickets.

In addition, the way that lottery advertising is designed often misrepresents the odds of winning – especially when it comes to picking individual numbers. Critics charge that the most common practices include promoting lottery jackpots in a misleading manner (by presenting them as a single lump sum, instead of paying out the prize in equal annual installments over 20 years, with inflation and taxes dramatically eroding their current value); inflating the amount of winning money – a practice that is also illegal in some states; and suggesting that playing lottery numbers based on birthdays or other personal information will result in a higher likelihood of success.