Not everyone buying lottery tickets sits around hoping to win millions. I know someone who has played for years and had many small wins who decries how they have made it worse by increasing the size of the big payout and decreasing the frequency of the small ones.

Similarly, it is possible to play sports because you love it, not because you see it as a get rich scheme.

Participating doesn't have to be crazy behavior in either case.

> someone who has played for years and had many small wins

That only makes it more likely that this person is losing money by playing. "Crazy" is too strong, I agree, but it's certainly not the shrewdest investment.

Oh, geez. If they played video games for fun, would you be explaining to me how unwise an investment that is?

Some people enjoy gambling. If it pays off, yay! If it doesn't, it was only a couple of bucks that they felt they could spare.

I'm aware there are very poor people who play the lottery in hopes of it fixing their lives, even homeless people. And I don't think that's a great idea. But there are people who can spare a few bucks who just like playing.

One person I know used to call it "Contributing to my nephew's scholarship fund" because the lottery covers education expenses in that state.

I have only rarely played the lottery. It's not really my thing. But not everything in life needs to be decided with a slide rule for someone to be fundamentally healthy. In fact, I have seen studies that suggest that people who do a little gambling are typically healthier than average.

>"Crazy" is too strong, I agree, but it's certainly not the shrewdest investment.

It's not supposed to be an investment, it's something you do for the fun of the "what if".

"What would you do with the money if you won $25,000,000 in the lottery?"

There. Just saved you n dollars where n is the number of times you want to play that game.

Yeah, this could work for someone from Vulkan.

Humans also want a tiny possibility of it happening to make their "what if" worth, and are willing to pay to get that.

Just like they are more engaged when there are props and sets and costumes when they see a play. A play requires suspension of disbelief, so they could have also made believe that they see the set and costumes over a naked stage, but we don't want that, we prefer to have them as aids.

I think the only similarity is that both groups get to where they are suddenly, without proving any financial acumen, which distinguishes them from the multimillionaires who become such from decades of working, frugality, and investing.

However, that's where the similarities end. Athletes become successful from years of hard work and sacrificing present enjoyment for future rewards. Lottery winners are chosen randomly from people who literally demonstrate how poorly they handle money buy buying lottery tickets.

Professional athletes usually have the extra money sink of massive health care costs relatively early in life, though.