Forgive me, for those of you who play the lottery — but economists, at least among themselves, refer to the lottery as a stupidity tax, because the odds of getting any payoff by investing your money in a lottery ticket are approximately equivalent to flushing the money directly down the toilet.

Source: "Why We Make Bad Decisions." TEDGlobal 2005. Jul. 2005. Conference Presentation. Additional Information: This Dan Gilbert quote is from the Harvard psychologist's 2005 TED Talk about why people make bad decisions. One bad decision people commonly make is playing the lottery, says Gilbert. According to this quote, experts believe playing the lottery is essentially the same as flushing your money down the toilet -- there is virtually no chance that you will get anything for your money, so you are effectively wasting it. In this Talk, Gilbert explains the logical errors people make that cause them to do things like buy lottery tickets. Watch the full TED Talk here: Dan Gilbert -  Why We Make Bad Decisions