What's the technical difference between a "raffle" and a "lottery"?

Question

What's the technical difference between a "raffle" and a "lottery"?

Answer 1

According to my Merriam-Webster dictionary a raffle is "a lottery in which the prize is won by one of numerous persons buying chances."

So, technically, all raffles are lotteries buy not all lotteries are raffles.

In practical terms, at least as far as state regulated gambling is concerned, in a raffle people buy raffle tickets and the prizes will be awarded to holders of tickets that were sold for that drawing. However in the lotteries, such as PowerBall and MegaMillions there may not be a winner in any particular drawing because the numbers drawn do not have to match the numbers any player has chosen.

Answer 2

In a raffle, all the purchased tickets are placed in a container of some kind and the winner is chosen from the purchased tickets, so someone is guaranteed to win.

In a lottery, several numbers are chosen at random, and anyone (can be more than one person) who matches those numbers (they may or may not have to be in order, it depends on the specific game) wins the prize.  Many lotteries have payouts depending on how many numbers were matched.  If nobody matches all the numbers, then nobody wins and the pot is increased.