Lotteries are pay-to-play and always have a negative expected return (like the fairground). Participation (like second marriages), is always the triumph of hope over experience and rationality. People are just willingly paying a tax to have a hopeful thought, or in the fairground, to have a fun experience (allegedly).

National lotteries are generally trustworthy, but the mechanism for you to get a real ticket might not be (street hawkers, fake web sites).