I certainly agree that throwing money at the lottery every week is a bit silly since it's highly unlikely any single person will ever win, but calling it a scam is a bit much. Calling it a scam implies that it never pays out to anyone. It's really no more a scam than playing slots or roulette or something in a casino. I'd actually almost say a lot of pure random chance based casino games like that are more scam like since they rely on various psychological tricks to try and get people literally addicted. The lottery does the same thing to some extent, but not quite as much as Casino's are willing to resort to I find.

I've been known to throw a few bucks at the lottery if the jackpot is high enough. If my situation were so dire that I needed that money to live I obviously wouldn't, and I don't do it very often. Maybe two or three times a year tops if I happen to be in a store that sells tickets and the mood strikes me. Yeah, I know the odds of winning; I've calculated them myself numerous times, but screw it. Sometimes it just feels nice to take the chance on it and I'm not going to miss those few dollars it costs me every year.