"Objectively, yes, money put on a lottery ticket is wasted; even, for example, pick-three or pick-four daily games are so unlikely to pay any award as to be worth it. But I cannot make myself believe that this is necessarily a more foolish thing to do with a couple dollars than, say, buying a candy bar or downloading a song you won't put on any playlists." -- Joseph Nebus, 2020-02-14
[My own approach to gambling is to consider the money I wager to be spent on entertainment, and the element of chance is how many minutes of entertainment that money pays for. To me, a lottery ticket isn't enough entertainment, but a backgammon game can be. Except that I hardly gamble at all anyhow because I don't have an entertainment budget.]