When I worked at a convenience store I found it hilarious that so many people would hand me so much money in exchange for worthless pieces of paper with numbers printed on them. I recall one particular customer whose only foundation for conversation was to present some manner of excuse as to why he didn't win "the big one". He would ramble on about how he and his daughter were driving down some street the day before and saw what later turned out to be the winning number in the form of a house number - or some such story. He would then curse himself for not having bet on that number.

Then there were the customers who would purchase a handful of scratch-off tickets and then go sit in their vehicles and industriously scratch the tickets, one by one and then repeat the process over and over. Some would spend at least a couple of hours in this process. Even if they won a few dollars, they would sink their winnings into the purchase of even more tickets.

Ah, well. I suppose it gives them all something to do while they are hoping for their "ship" to come in!