The New York Lottery is a state-run game that has been around since 1967. Its proceeds have helped fund education in the state. In fact, the lottery is one of the few government-sanctioned gaming operations that withhold a significant amount of money from winning tickets to pay taxes. The New York State Lottery results are available online, so you can check them anytime you want. You can also find the latest information about the game and its jackpot prizes.

The official lottery website provides a range of services including tracking the results of past draws and finding physical retailers. You can also sign up to receive lottery notifications and newsletters. The official site is also a good source of information about the history of lottery in New York.

When the modern state lotteries were first introduced, they were sold to voters as a way for governments to raise revenue without hiking taxes, writes historian Adam Cohen. Politicians in the Northeast, states with broader social safety nets than their Rust Belt counterparts, wanted to keep up existing services without burdening middle- and working-class residents with unpopular increases in taxes. Lotteries seemed to be the perfect solution: they would bring in huge sums that could cover the costs of essential public services, allowing the government to avoid more-difficult tax hikes.

But evidence quickly put that claim to bed. On average, lottery revenue amounts to a mere drop in the bucket for actual state budgets, and it is highly regressive, taking a larger share of income from those who can least afford to gamble with their hard-earned dollars.