noun (n)

• something that is regarded as a chance event(noun.event)

  Example:
  The election was just a lottery to them.
  

  source: wordnet30
• players buy (or are given) chances and prizes are distributed by casting lots(noun.act)

  Synonym:
  drawing
  

  source: wordnet30
• A scheme for the distribution of prizes by lot or chance; esp., a gaming scheme in which one or more tickets bearing particular numbers draw prizes, and the rest of the tickets are blanks. Fig.: An affair of chance.(noun)

  source: webster1913