The history of the lottery goes back many centuries, to the 17th century in the Netherlands, where government officials ran public lotteries to raise funds for poor people and various public projects. These lotteries quickly became popular, and many people hailed them as painless taxation. The oldest continuously-running lottery was established in 1726, and is known as the Staatsloterij. The word “lottery” is derived from the Dutch noun, meaning “fate.”

State-wide lotteries are available in forty-four states and Washington D.C. Only Hawaii and Alaska do not have their own lottery. In Nevada, there is no federal lottery. However, the Powerball and Mega Millions are available almost everywhere, and are considered national lottery games. This is because they are based in every state. Those who win both are eligible to receive the jackpot. Obviously, the money will be taxed.

The most common lottery format is the 6 out of 49. For a chance to win 50% of the time, a lottery participant would have to play 9,692,842 times. If they were to buy a hundred tickets a day, it would take them 265.6 years to achieve a 50% chance of winning. If they bumped their odds to ninety percent, it would take them eighty-two years. So, a lot of lottery players believe in the gambler’s fallacy.

The Wisconsin Lottery started operations in 1984 and now features several state-based games. The money generated from the lottery is distributed to local and public businesses. In 2013, Wyoming introduced the WyoLotto game, a multi-state lottery that gives 100% of its profits to the state’s school system. Almost every state in the US has their own lottery. Below is a list of some of the games that are available in each state.