I agree with you. That's why I put this disclaimer at the very beginning of the notebook : "Disclaimer : I'm not a lottery player... This NoteBook will not make you rich, as on average, you lose money when you play" !
While a clever exercise in learning more about data mining and machine learning there is not a whole lot of mention on the chances of actually winning.
"Lottery is a tax on the innumerate" Daniel Tammet
From the point of view of behavioral economics, essential reason why most people pay to play lottery is not financial gain but the excitement and anticipation of results. I know people who feel good for all week when they have a lottery ticket. The price of a ticket is quite small, the disappointment of losing is also small and short and can be substituted by new excitement with a purchase of a new ticket.
I know that much of the fun is in the doing, but people should be aware that the California Lottery (and likely others) have an option to generate random numbers for you, so you don't have to do this process if you don't want to.
