There are various types of lotteries and Judaism’s approach to them differs accordingly.
First of all, there are several sources that indicate that a lottery is an acceptable means for making a decision:
- Biblically, there is the lottery performed on Yom Kippur to determine the goat that is L'Hashem and the goat that is L'Azazel. There is also the lottery to divide the Land of Israel among the 12 Tribes.
- Mishnaically, there is the lottery that was performed each day to determine who would have the honor of performing the Temple service.
- The Shulchan Aruch mentions the custom of some synagogues to determine by lottery the person who would receive a particular Aliyah, or recite a particular Kaddish.
The halachic problem arises, though, when a person agrees to give up something of his own if he loses the lottery.
Let's say that several people pitch in and buy a cake, and when they cut the cake, one of the pieces is significantly larger than the others. They decide to "lottery off" the large piece. The Shulchan Aruch rules that this type of lottery is forbidden and constitutes a rabbinical violation of theft. This prohibition is based on the assumption that a person never fully gives up his rights to his portion, because he doesn't really believe he will lose. Therefore, the winner is taking something that the others never fully gave over; hence he is stealing.
National lotteries, however, are free of this problem. This is because when buying a ticket, the person hands over his money before the draw. He already departed with that which he may lose, so that, if he loses, then the winner is not taking something that the loser has not "relinquished".
What about a lottery or gambling which involves a “skill factor”? If the gambler thinks that he has a system that will increase the likelihood of his winning, does this affect the halacha? The Rema writes that as long as the outcome is not entirely under his control and he doesn't know that he will win, we assume that he has given over his money without reservation. Even if this person has a system that will increase his chances, he is still playing a game of chance, and realizes that there is a real possibility that he will lose — so he would still be permitted to play the lottery.
It would be irresponsible of me to talk about the halacha of participating in a lottery without warning that this is something which is subject to addiction and must be handled with extreme care. The great Ba'alei Mussar (Ethicists) have pointed out that while buying a lottery ticket may be a form of hishtadlut (effort to make a living), you only need one ticket to win, and if God wants you to receive money that way, then He will do it via the one ticket. The Talmud also teaches that people who spend their day earning a living by gambling are not contributing to society, and they are not to be trusted as witnesses in court.
I heard the following anecdote from a Rabbi in Jerusalem. A man bought a lottery ticket weekly and each week he promised God that if he would win he would give a large sum to charity. And every week he would lose. One week a rumor spread that the man had gone to a house of idol worship — and that week he won the lottery! That Shabbat he came back to the synagogue and asked to speak before the congregation recited the prayer of Ein Kelokeinu (there is none like our God). He "clopped" on the bima and said, "There is none like 'our' God. For years I've been promising God that if I win the lottery I’ll give a large sum to charity, and He was never fooled. But that getchke (idol), the first week I make my promise he goes for it!"
