I've played the lottery (UK) at two points in my life, and I'm now a maths graduate ... First, not long after the lottery came out - I was a young adult swept

I've played the lottery (UK) at two points in my life, and I'm now a maths graduate ... First, not long after the lottery came out - I was a young adult swept along by the social phenomenon. The BBC made it a focus of Saturday night TV, the game of "what will you do if you win" was almost as popular in the UK as talking about the weather. It was a social choice, when I reflected on that choice I stopped playing -- "started winning a £1 every week". Second, in the last decade, we were dirt poor - on the edge of missing meals poor. I played the lottery again, it was desperation and it was something I hid. I managed to keep it minimal and quickly came to my senses. But I imagine a lot of people hit that point of desperation and aren't able to stop digging themselves further into debt and spend relatively large amounts on lottery tickets.