Exactly.
Anyone who regularly plays the lottery is simply throwing money away that could be used for REAL wealth-building.
I don't regularly play the lottery. Two or three times a year, often when I'm getting oil changes where I'm not only stuck in the gas/carwash/oil service center for ~45 minutes but I ALSO need to be carrying cash to tip the car wash guys, I'll throw $10 down on a lotto ticket. The opportunity cost of that $20-30 over the span of 12 months is what, a case of beer? It's certainly not going into my 401K or E*trade account. So it's worth the absurd fantasy.
Now, though, I'll tell you the really funny [and even more absurd] part...
I don't play Powerball or Megamillions. I only play California Superlotto.
Why? Because the odds of winning Superlotto are 1 in 41M, and a ticket only costs a doller, so for $10 I have odds of 1 in 4.1M.
The odds of Powerball are 1 in 292M and Megamillions are 1 in 301M, and a ticket costs $2. So my $10 basically gives me about 1 in 60M odds of winning.
Both are absurd fantasies, but my rational brain doesn't allow me to take the worse odds for the larger payout, because Superlotto payouts are "enough" lol...
I'd rather take 1 in 4.1M odds of winning $12M than 1 in 60M odds of winning $500M+. Because $12M is still life-changing money.