By that same average, everyone loses out on the lottery in the long run, too. But for the few who don't lose, it's worth it. That applies to both insurance an

By that same average, everyone loses out on the lottery in the long run, too. But for the few who don't lose, it's worth it. That applies to both insurance and the lottery. The difference, as has already been pointed out, is that insurance prevents a bad scenario, whereas the lottery sometimes results in a good scenario.