[joshdance]

The companies providing the service could argue that they are improving people's lives. Fast food give adequate calories fast. Payday loans give needed money fast. Of course both are not beneficial long term and have huge side effects, but you can't blame them. Except for lotteries. Lotteries you can blame the providers.

Which is the government.

[JackFr]

Lotteries (and insurance) allow one to trade first moment (expected value) for higher moments (variance and skewness). That someone with very little would try to increase his or her variance at the cost of a little bit of expected value makes sense. That someone with very much would trade some expected value for reducing his or her variance also maes sense.