Whether you’re one of the millions who play the lottery or you’ve never even heard of it, chances are you have some sort of opinion about it. For some people, it is a game that’s a total waste of money and for others, they believe that it’s their last, best, or only chance at a new life. Regardless of how you feel about the game, it’s important to understand how lottery odds work in order to make an informed decision about whether to play or not to play.

The modern lottery has its roots in ancient times, when the Romans distributed tickets as gifts to their guests during dinner parties. Then, in the 17th century, Dutch lotteries became very popular. Players paid a small fee to select a group of numbers or have machines randomly spit them out, and then won prizes such as dinnerware if their selections happened to match those chosen by the machines.

These early lotteries helped finance a wide variety of public ventures, including canals, roads, and churches. In America, colonists used them to fund the construction of their local militias and fortifications. They also financed private ventures, such as the foundation of Columbia University in 1754 and Princeton University in 1755, despite strict Protestant proscriptions against gambling.

In the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, growing awareness of all the money to be made in the gambling business collided with a crisis in state funding. As populations grew and inflation accelerated, states found it increasingly difficult to balance their budgets without hiking taxes or cutting services—both of which were extremely unpopular with voters.

To solve the problem, legislators turned to the lottery. It was a way for them to raise revenue almost magically from nowhere. Cohen writes that they began to pitch the games as “budgetary miracles,” claiming that they could float a state’s entire budget without raising taxes or reducing services. The gamblers bought into the pitch, and lottery sales soared.

As the lottery’s popularity grew, jackpots swelled to staggering sizes—which in turn drove ticket sales and brought a windfall of free publicity on news websites and television. In short, a virtuous cycle was created, enabling lotteries to thrive and governments to avoid raising taxes or cutting services.

While it is possible to win the lottery, it’s rare. Many winners end up going bankrupt in a few years after they hit it big. In addition, winning the lottery has huge tax implications and you should always keep in mind that your chances of winning are 1 in 292 million (Powerball). Nevertheless, Americans spend more than $80 billion annually on these tickets—money that could be better spent building an emergency fund or paying off credit card debt.

Lottery games are designed to lure and keep players, so it’s not surprising that they have some of the same psychological traits as addiction-inducing products like cigarettes or video games. From the ad campaigns to the math on the front of the tickets, everything about the lottery is intended to create an addictive experience for players.