A lottery is an arrangement in which prizes are allocated by chance. Prizes can be money, goods, or services. The term is most often used for a game in which people purchase tickets for the chance of winning a prize, such as a cash jackpot. It is also applied to other arrangements involving chance, such as distribution of public housing units or kindergarten placements. In the United States, people spend billions of dollars on lottery tickets each year. The chances of winning are slim, but there is a lot of hype surrounding the potential for huge prizes.

The word lottery is derived from Latin loteria, from the verb “to distribute” (see Lot). Its earliest use was in reference to the distribution of property among a group, as for example in a church’s ownership of land or of slaves. The lottery was an important source of income in ancient Rome, and it is suggested that Roman emperors used lotteries to give away articles of unequal value as a form of entertainment at dinner parties and other Saturnalian festivities.

The idea behind a lottery pool is that you and your coworkers pool money to buy as many tickets as possible for the next drawing. You can divide the ticket cost between all members or have one person serve as a pool manager who keeps detailed records, buys the tickets, selects numbers, and monitors the drawings. Ideally, you want to elect the most dependable people to act as your pool managers.