How to think about lotto tickets:
[R]ealistically, your chance of winning the jackpot is zero. Technically, it’s one in 175,711,536, or 0.000000569%. Which is statistically the same as zero. But it’s not psychologically the same as zero — and that’s what counts. When you buy your lottery ticket, it’s impossible not to dream of all the things which might happen if you won. (My dream now has to include the inconvenient fact that my winning lottery numbers will have been broadcast on YouTube.) The dream is pleasant enough to be worth a buck — at least to someone with a buck to spare, like me. In fact, it’s so pleasant that sometimes I won’t even check my lottery numbers, because I don’t like the opposite feeling of finding out I haven’t won.
The Dish 