Lottery is a game in which players pay for tickets and then hope to win prizes by matching numbers. State lotteries are enormously popular: Gallup polls indicate that about half of adults purchase a ticket at least once a year, and many play often. The money raised by lotteries helps finance a variety of public services, including schools and infrastructure projects. Some states use the funds to help disadvantaged families and seniors, while others earmark it for education.

Despite the astronomical odds of winning, people are still willing to spend a considerable portion of their income on lottery tickets. And this behavior is hard to discourage. For example, even if you don’t buy the big jackpots, a modest lottery habit of $20 per month can add up to a small fortune over a working life—money that you could otherwise be saving for retirement or paying off debt.

The glitz and glamour of lottery advertising may convince some consumers that it’s harmless, but it can also mislead them about the odds of winning the prize—which is typically paid in annual installments over 20 years, reducing its current value by inflation and taxes. The glitz also obscures the regressivity of lottery gambling, which hits lower-income Americans hardest.

The lottery’s popularity in the United States seems to rely on the luring of specific constituencies: convenience store operators; suppliers (whose heavy contributions to state political campaigns are widely reported); teachers (in those states where lotteries raise revenue earmarked for education); and state legislators who quickly come to rely on the extra funds. But if the public is being misled, are state officials doing their duty to protect citizens?