The next time you hand over a buck for a lottery ticket, thank the man on the bill for your chance to retire in style.

If George Washington hadn't been a lotto fan, you might still be waking up to tea and crumpets for breakfast. It was the proceeds from a colonial lottery that helped Washington cross the Delaware, defeat the redcoats and make the New World safe for all us convenience-store dreamers.

According to the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries, players in the 38 states, plus Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands spent $42.4 billion on lottery tickets in fiscal year 2002, an average of $168 per capita and a 9 percent increase over the previous year.

That's a lotta' lotto, especially considering our minuscule odds of winning: approximately 1 in 146 million for the MultiState Powerball, and 1 in 175 million for Mega Millions Powerball.

''Put in perspective, if you buy 50 Mega Million tickets a week, you'll win the jackpot on average once every 60,000 years'' says Michael Orkin, statistics professor at Cal State-Hayward and author of What Are The Odds: Chance in Everyday Life.

Hope springs eternal;
Ah, but we can hope. Whether we're registering for a sweepstakes or ponying up for a fistful of fate-busters, Americans love the prospect of winning something for practically nothing.

''It's a dollar and a dream'' says Bob Vincent, spokesman for GTech, which provides the processing for lotteries in 86 jurisdictions worldwide, including 28 U.S. states. ''For a one dollar investment, you walk around for a day thinking, 'Gee, what would I do with those millions of dollars?' That's the entertainment value.''