Then there is the old joke about the Scottish man who bought two lottery tickets, for 1 pound each.
The numbers were drawn and sure enough, one of the tickets was the big winner!
Everyone was happy, but the Scottish dude was not.
“Hey, what’s wrong?! You have a winning ticket worth millions!!”
The Scottish guy shook his head sadly and said, “Yes, but the other ticket was a waste of money…”
Every week. Costs a buck. Feels nice to have non-zero chances of winning.
Like my uncle always says, it’s a $52 dollar a year dream.
Yeah, I usually buy a few when it peeks up into the 80 million range, and will keep buying a few for each draw till someone hits.
I know it’s a waste, but I’m not hurting, and it fuels the daydream. And who knows? Maybe I’ll get lucky.
I play now and then. It’s entertainment. A ticket’s cheaper than a pint of cider.
When the jackpot is large enough to make the news, I’ll pay my $1 or $2 daydream fee.
I allow myself to buy powerball tickets under fairly tight rules.
- The jackpot has to be over $100 million.
- I have to know that. This one’s a killer, because I don’t follow the jackpots; it requires that I notice a billboard while driving, which I often do not do.
- I have to be in the gas station to buy gas on the day of the drawing (Wednesday & Saturday, I think).
Basically the idea here is that I don’t want to invest emotional energy in caring about the lottery on a regular basis, but I don’t mind every once in a while
I (jointly) play 3 times a week - £2 a week each isn’t so much that I am devastated to lose - but even the small wins (usually £5-6) make me smile, looking forward to the big one 
I like this idea. But my dream costs $104 annually, as I play twice a week.
I like the idea of being able never having to work again and play with hobbies. Also so I can retire happily.
I know, it’ll never happen, but ya gotta have a dream, eh? 
I think I’ve purchased three scratch-off tickets in my life (when I was feeling particularly bored with my career), but I still voted for “never”.
Yup. We love to play the “what would we do first if we won” game. Cheap entertainment, and a fun exercise.
Rarely…maybe 5 tickets per year. If I ever win though, I am buying my BF ANY scooter and Ukulele his heart desires.
I didn’t answer the poll question. Spending an average of perhaps $2 per year on the lottery makes me neither a player nor an abject teetotaler. 
You’re obviously entitled to your own money utility function, but most model it as having non-positive 2nd derivative, which would make lottery a bad bet (absent entertainment value).
yup - i do play now and again - a buck for a pocketful of dreams is a small price for me. Especially since my dreams include a geobubble with a mountain and a lake and a place where kitties and puppies can run free and healthy and our friends can safely raise their kids without requiring us to babysit.
Oh, and there’s always ice cream.
I play two draws every drawing. The money comes out of my entertainment budget.
I think that’s true for small values and large values, but not true in the range from middle class to the standard lottery win.
The first $5 a day means you can eat. Going up to $10 doesn’t make nearly as much difference. Similarly, the first $5 million means you’re set. Going up to $10 million doesn’t make nearly the difference.
But the difference between working for a living and not is life-changing.
Buying my ticket every week (I have it set up on a direct debit for one ticket per week automatically, I don’t even need to think about it) is the price I pay for being able to have “if I won the lottery” fantasies. At £52 a year it’s worth it for the happiness it brings me.
Occasionally I’ll buy a Lotto ticket or three, if the jackpot is high and I happen to have an extra couple of bucks in cash in my pocket. I figure I could spend that buck grabbing a can of Coke out of the machine at work, so buying a lottery ticket is better for my health and offers slightly better odds on winning.
That sounds about right. Maybe 10 times a year, the jackpot number is so ridiculously large that I drop a fiver on it for a lark - I take notice around least 100 million.
And you know what? Last week I WON the Powerball!!! For realz!!
… $7 on a $5 ticket, but I won. It paid for my lunch anyway. Until they added tax and I had to fish for change. And of course, only $2 of that $7 was excess return.
I had a dream once as a teenager (a literal dream) that I hit the lottery, so I know it’s in my future, and I don’t want to blow my wad (ha) on winning some silly non-life-changing $5 million dollar jackpot (which after tax and given as a lump sum becomes under $2 million, which means I could get maybe a 2BR apartment in Manhattan and keep working to pay the maintenance).
Oh no. That $7 Powerball ticket better not count!
Lottery - no.
I do buy the occasional Lottos-style ticket, when there’s a large prize on offer.