Lotteries: a tax on those with poor mathematical skills

A Lottery is a Taxation,
Upon all the Fools in Creation;
And Heav’n be praised,
It is easily raised,
Credulity’s always in Fashion:
For, Folly’s a Fund,
Will Never Lose Ground,
While Fools are so rife in the Nation.

- Henry Fielding, "The Lottery", 1731.

Here is an incredibly depressing lottery simulator for the popular US "Mega Millions" Lottery. You can pick your numbers and simulate playing twice a week for ten years. It would cost you $1040 to do this. I did it and managed to "win" back $77 of my investment.
H/T Milan.