A lottery is a game where numbers are drawn at random for prizes. The odds of winning vary wildly, as do the prices of tickets and the sizes of prizes. A percentage of the prize pool normally goes to organizers and sponsors, and the remainder is available for winners. The word lottery is derived from Middle Dutch loterie, a calque of Old French loterie “action of drawing lots” (Oxford English Dictionary).
In colonial America, lottery games played an important role in financing private and public projects including roads, canals, churches, colleges, libraries, and bridges. Many states even had state-run lotteries to fund military expeditions against Native American tribes and the British invasion of Canada during the War of Independence.
Shirley Jackson’s short story The Lottery illustrates the destructive nature of unquestioning adherence to tradition. The story’s setting, a small village, functions as a metaphor for society at large. The villager’s blind acceptance of a ritual that ends with the stoning of one of its residents underscores the power structures that are inherent in cultural traditions. The story encourages readers to explore the complexities of their own cultures and to consider whether harmful practices persist because they are embedded in the fabric of an unquestioning culture.
Several techniques exist for breaching lottery security, including candling, delamination, and wicking. To prevent these methods, lottery organizers print matching, coded numbers on both the front and back of each ticket. They also use a heavy coating to conceal the numbers, and they imprint confusing patterns on the ticket’s surface to prevent decoding or candling.