the.com/lottery
a tax on people bad at math, paid gladly for sixty seconds of maybe.
means A game of chance in which people buy numbered tickets and winners are chosen at random, often for a large cash prize.
from From the Dutch 'loterij' (and 'lot,' meaning fate or share), which came into English in the 16th century. The root is the much older Germanic 'lot' — the same word as the small object once cast or drawn to let chance decide a matter, as in 'casting lots.' So a lottery is, quite literally, a place where you buy a fistful of fate.
oddsYou're likelier struck by lightning than hitting jackpot.
oldChina's Han dynasty used lotteries to fund the Great Wall.
curseMany big winners go broke within a few years.
fundsFunded Harvard, Yale, and early American roads.
smartsBuying two tickets barely doubles your basically-zero chance.