There's also a difference between people who buy lottery tickets religiously, and who buy them once in a while. I like to play once in a while when the jackpots are high, just in case. Unfortunately, the answer to it is really hard, like most issues society faces today.
Yeah I occasionally will buy a ticket or two. Not often, but sometimes on a whim I get them. I figure it is probably a slightly healthier version of buying the king size kitkat or snickers in the checkout line. The cost is the same, the satisfaction is just as transient, and I'm not jamming a bunch of sugar in my face.
I've been in an online community where some users do a group buy for certain lottos when the prize is big enough. Sending $2 by paypal/venmo is easier and lower friction that going to one of the stores near me where I can but a ticket myself. I still think it's kinda dumb, but I do plenty of dumb things and I buy one infrequently enough to be ok with it.
I don't think that's the case. Most of the expected value comes from the jackpot, and even if a large jackpot means you should expect to share with 1 or 2 other winners, but the large jackpots are easily more than 3x the small ones.
