The lottery is one of the most popular forms of gambling in America, and many states promote it as a way to raise money for things like schools. But is that a fair trade-off? And just how much of that prize money ends up in the hands of winners? To find out, we’ll take a closer look at the people who play the lottery—and how they’re spending their money.

The word “lottery” derives from the ancient practice of drawing lots to determine some sort of reward or punishment. It’s not clear whether the biblical Moses took a census of Israel and distributed land by lot, but it is possible that the Roman emperors did something similar with property and slaves. In the Middle Ages, cities held public lotteries to raise funds for building town fortifications and to help the poor.

Modern state-sponsored lotteries typically offer multiple games and have a centralized organization that runs them. Lottery divisions may be responsible for selecting retailers, training their employees to sell and redeem tickets, printing and distributing lottery-related material, paying top prizes, and ensuring that all retail workers and players comply with the relevant laws and regulations. The divisions are often staffed with people who work for the state government, but they can also be run by private corporations or nonprofits.

Despite being a form of gambling, the state-sponsored lottery is not taxed in the same way as ordinary goods or services are. State governments claim that the profits from ticket sales support education and other public goods, but this money doesn’t flow through the broader tax system. As a result, consumers aren’t aware that they are paying an implicit tax on the lottery tickets they buy.

Many state lotteries have a high percentage of prizes that are paid out in cash, which means that the share of ticket sales that goes to state coffers is smaller. This can be a deterrent to some players, who might prefer to gamble on a game that offers a better chance of winning more substantial prizes.

There’s no doubt that a large number of Americans play the lottery. However, the fact that many of these players are disproportionately lower-income, less educated, and nonwhite skews the results of national statistics on lottery participation. And it should also be noted that there is a very real possibility that the popularity of these types of lottery games can actually lead to more gambling problems in the future. If we keep feeding this addiction to instant riches, it will only get worse. As it is, the number of lottery players is rising steadily, and if current trends continue, there may come a time when we won’t be able to afford to keep running these games. That would be a sad irony. In the meantime, we can only hope that people will learn to play responsibly and limit their purchases accordingly. It might not be easy, but it’s certainly possible.