ABSTRACT
In February 1826, a few months before his death, Thomas Jefferson penned an essay entitled “Thoughts on Lotteries.” In arguing for the utility of lotteries, he wrote: “Money is wanting for a useful undertaking, as a school, etc., for which a direct tax would be disapproved. It is raised therefore by a lottery, wherein the tax is laid on the willing only, that is to say, on those who can risk the price of a ticket without sensible injury for the possibility of a higher prize.” 1 Jefferson’s stance in favor of lotteries in the essay was biased by the fact that he was trying to persuade the Virginia legislature to allow him to hold his own lottery. His essay did, however, highlight many of the reasons given by public and private groups in colonial America to support lotteries as an economic tool.
