Etymology

postcode lottery

post·code lot·te·ry

Today it means: The unequal availability or quality of services, especially public services such as healthcare or education, in different parts of the country. Full definition →

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The story

From postcode (“a sequence of letters and numbers added to a postal address to aid the sorting and delivery of post or mail; a region denoted by a postcode”) + lottery (“something decided by chance”), referring to the fact that whether one is in a locality which receives adequate services is a matter of chance.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.