&gt; A lottery ticket doesn&#x27;t buy a chance, it buys a pleasant daydream. It buys a mental escape hatch. It buys the &#x27;what would I do&#x27; game for another week.<p>Maybe for someone making six figures in the bay area.<p>In high school, I worked as a stock boy in a convenience&#x2F;liquor store in a blue collar midwest town.  It was obvious a large percentage of the buyers of lotto tickets really couldn&#x27;t afford to do so.<p>It&#x27;s not a popular opinion, but imho, the lottery is little more an government-sponsored exploration of the economically disadvantaged.