From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishlotterylot‧te‧ry /ˈlɒtəri $ ˈlɑː-/ ●○○ noun (plural lotteries) 1 [countable]DGG a game used to make money for a state or a charity in which people buy tickets with a series of numbers on them. If their number is picked by chance, they win money or a prize → raffle, draw a lottery ticket Do you really think winning the lottery would make you happy?national/state lottery2 [countable, uncountable] American English a system of deciding who will get something by choosing people’s names by chanceby lottery The State Department issues 55,000 visas each year by lottery.3 → a lottery
Examples from the Corpus
lottery• Nine hundred Maine residents and 100 nonresidents had their names drawn from a lottery.• But it was a lottery and lotteries were undesirable.• They have spent a lifetime playing the birth lottery.• the NFL draft lottery• They will hate you with a loathing reserved for lottery winners.• A baby's sex is a genetic lottery. It all depends on the chromosomes the baby receives from its parents.• Franken also avoided military service with student deferments while at Harvard and, ultimately, a high lottery number.• The organisers of the pools believe that huge jackpots are their best weapon in fighting the threat posed by a national lottery.• They had been playing the lottery together for more than a year, and they trusted him.• Similarly, if you have just won the lottery, go to an adviser who specialises in high net worth individuals.winning the lottery• My winning the lottery is improbable, because there are so many sequences of numbers other than mine that could come up.• Compare that with the one-in-14m chance of winning the lottery in Britain.• To stand a chance of winning the lottery, you need lots of different tickets.• The prize has been called the equivalent for a novelist of winning the lottery.by lottery• The State Department issues 55,000 visas each year by lottery.From Longman Business Dictionarylotterylot‧te‧ry /ˈlɒtəriˈlɑː-/ noun (plural lotteries)1[countable] a game of chance in which people buy tickets with numbers on and some people win prizes. Lotteries are often used to raise money for the government or for a CHARITYThe national lottery generates substantial additional funds for charities and other good causes.a lottery winner2[singular] when what happens depends on chance or luckThe stock market is too much of a lottery.Origin lottery (1500-1600) French loterie, from Middle Dutch, from lot “lot” 