Official Lottery is the place to find information about the state’s lotteries and lottery games. Lottery games can be fun and exciting, but please play responsibly and be sure to know your limits. If you’re not able to control your gambling and need help, contact 2-1-1 or GamblerND.
People spend upwards of $100 billion annually on lottery tickets, making it one of the most popular forms of gambling in the US. State governments promote the games as ways to raise revenue. But what that revenue actually translates to in broader state budgets, and whether it’s worth the trade-offs for the people who lose money, isn’t well understood.
There are two messages that state-run lotteries rely on to sell their products: The first is that they are doing a public good by raising money for the poor and children. But this argument obscures how regressive the lottery really is, and it glosses over the fact that lottery games are inextricably linked to an overall culture of gambling.
The other message is that the tickets are fun and exciting, which obscures how regressive they really are and distracts from the fact that they’re also inextricably linked to an overall culture that values instant wealth. And that’s why so many people play: they want to win. But the reality is that winning the lottery is not as easy as putting a couple bucks in a machine and hoping for the best. It takes work, discipline and self-control to be a successful gambler.