... why don't you ever see the headline "Psychic Wins Lottery"?

Yes. People who are clever work out the odds of winning the UK lottery as being 1 in 49!/6!/43! = 1 in 13,983,916. So you have to spend £13,983,916 to win the jackpot, which is usually about £5,000,000. The lottery is a tax for the poor at Maths. :-)

I just knew someone was going to post this.

http://xkcd.com/628/

I don't have the slightest idea, as to why you don't.

alexholowczak, it's not really a tax on the mathematically inept, because you need to consider how much utility people gain from participating.

Most people who play the lottery don't expect to win. Somewhere in their heart of hearts, they know the odds are against them. But they still play, because they like gambling with small amounts of cash.

I think that lottery is a neat idea. It's like a charitable fundraiser... only the charity is someone rich enough to waste money on lottery tickets.