It feels intuitive to me. Maybe not Objectively Reasonable, but intuitive.
It's more fun if it might actually happen because then there's an aspect of *hope*. The difference between "might win" and "might buy a ticket and *then* win" is that the latter involves a decision on your part, while the former is purely external to you: you'll *never* get the world you want if you don't arrange for that world to be possible.
(this assumes free will, but then intuitions generally do)
---
In practice, I'm too risk-averse to enjoy gambling where there is a possibility of loss (stuff where you always gain but the *amount* is random can be fun). I can force myself to do it anyway if I'm confident enough that the expected value is positive, but lotteries don't even have that going for them. I can see why someone with the same hope but less fear to counterbalance it would enjoy gambling; hell, empirically, past selves from back when I wasn't anxious were known to occasionally buy scratchcards.
no subject
It's more fun if it might actually happen because then there's an aspect of *hope*. The difference between "might win" and "might buy a ticket and *then* win" is that the latter involves a decision on your part, while the former is purely external to you: you'll *never* get the world you want if you don't arrange for that world to be possible.
(this assumes free will, but then intuitions generally do)
---
In practice, I'm too risk-averse to enjoy gambling where there is a possibility of loss (stuff where you always gain but the *amount* is random can be fun). I can force myself to do it anyway if I'm confident enough that the expected value is positive, but lotteries don't even have that going for them. I can see why someone with the same hope but less fear to counterbalance it would enjoy gambling; hell, empirically, past selves from back when I wasn't anxious were known to occasionally buy scratchcards.