The title is an oxymoron, many would think. This means that the title presents a paradox. How can lottery be gambling? After all, those states that have banned gambling allow lottery to flourish within their compass. This means that lottery is not provided the status of regulated gambling.
Well! There can be quite a number of advocates of this theory. Yes, you are wagering against the unknown but it is a bet of pure chance. You just do not have a hand in the results. People claim Roulette and Bingo to be just the same but there you can put effective strategies to good use. Card selection and reading patterns is important for Bingo. Betting styles and calculation of House Edge is important for Roulette.
Lottery gambling includes no such pattern reading. It is based on pure chance. You pick a lottery and go home. The winner is chosen from a random selection of lotteries. State run lotteries have been very popular since a long time. Communist countries have even allowed them. Government runs lotteries to siphon additional revenues for government programs. It might be a government-aided institute or a road program or some dam construction.
Lottery may not be gambling in strict sense of terms but it would certainly be read as one by many lottery buffs.