Lottery is a form of gambling in which people buy numbered tickets to win prizes such as money or goods. State-run lotteries are a common method of raising funds for government projects. People also play private lotteries to raise funds for non-government purposes.

In many cases, the entertainment value (or other non-monetary benefits) derived from lottery playing outweighs the disutility of losing a small amount of money, making buying lottery tickets a rational decision for some individuals. However, this does not imply that all purchases of lottery tickets are rational, especially when lottery playing becomes a habit. A couple in Michigan made $27 million over nine years by buying thousands of tickets at a time, using a strategy similar to that employed by the MIT students in the HuffPost story. This approach increases the odds of winning dramatically for a small initial investment.

But there is a catch: lottery revenues are not transparent, and consumers often don’t realize that they’re paying an implicit tax. This makes it difficult to evaluate the true impact of a lottery on public finances, which is one reason why critics call it a hidden tax.

The good news for states is that lotteries bring in lots of revenue, which they can use to fund things like education. But this cash comes from somewhere, and studies suggest that it’s largely from low-income households and minorities. As a result, lottery players as a group contribute billions to government receipts they could have put in their savings accounts for retirement or college tuition.