The idea of winning a lottery may seem like the stuff of fairy tales. But there are plenty of real-life examples to prove that it’s not just a dream, and in many cases the big payout has had devastating consequences for the winners and their families. In the age of Instagram and the Kardashians, it’s easy to forget that gambling is still a very dangerous thing. But lotteries are more than just a form of entertainment; they’re a popular way for governments to raise money without having to increase taxes, and they have a long history in America.

The first state-sponsored lotteries were held in the Low Countries in the 15th century, and records from that time show that people were already selling tickets with prize money. One of the earliest references to this phenomenon is in a book published in 1567, which describes how Queen Elizabeth I organised a lotto to raise money for “strength of the realm and other good publick works”.

A lottery game involves a random drawing of numbers from a pool of entries. The more numbers that match those drawn, the higher the prize. Those tickets are sold to the general public by a centralized organization, and money paid for them is usually passed up through a chain of sales agents until it reaches the lottery company’s headquarters. Eventually, the company announces the winning numbers and prizes.

In modern times, most states run a lottery. But there are six that don’t, including Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Mississippi, Utah, and Nevada — which is a little perplexing considering that Las Vegas is located in the state of Nevada. The reasons for not allowing a lottery vary. Some states are worried about the potential for addiction; others have religious objections, as with Utah’s ban; and the states of Alaska and Mississippi simply want to keep their tax revenue for other projects.

There are also concerns about the social impact of a lottery. While some people do become addicted to it, there are also stories of winners whose lives take a turn for the worse after they win — Abraham Shakespeare, who was killed with his own rifle after winning $31 million; Jeffrey Dampier, who shot himself after winning $20 million; and Urooj Khan, who died after ingesting cyanide just two days after a $1 million jackpot.

Lottery games are still a popular way for governments to raise money, and they’re becoming more common in places like the United Kingdom and Australia, which recently launched a national lottery that includes a game of chance known as the Powerball. Other countries have similar games, which are often based on scratch-off tickets that require players to pay an entry fee in order to be entered into the draw. The winners of these games can receive cash or goods, or both, depending on the rules. The winner must then claim the prize within a set period of time, or else forfeit it.