I made this argument to a member of my wife's family not long ago
And a few weeks later they won the Irish lottery, getting several million pounds.
The argument still stands, of course, but it was a bit irritating.

IIRC, the actual expected return on investment for the Lottery, taking into account all the possible sums, is about 50p for every pound, although obviously that fluctuates depending on how many are playing, and in particular if there's a rollover.

Compare this to other forms of 'pure' gambling and it's incredibly poor. The best pure luck gamble is Blackjack, where if you play the optimum game I think it's a return of almost 99.5% - a very good chance of coming out ahead in the short term, although obviously you'll still lose in the long term.

But as far as I can see the only thing worth gambling on is games of skill, where you can actually have some sense of your own ability compared with those around you. Poker, pool, backgammon, that kind of thing.
( flatfrog Staring vacantly into space, Fri 8 May 2009, 9:43, 2 replies)

Just under 50p in each pound is paid out in prizes
So yeah :)
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Fri 8 May 2009, 9:48, closed)

not quite
i believe baccarat to have better payout than blackjack, hence why the house always takes a table fee to play - so they make their cut decent. Its a bit like the poker tables buy in fee.
( bazza van der trance , ooh baby baby, baby baby. Get up on this., Fri 8 May 2009, 10:50, closed)