The jackpots are huge, sometimes $200-million.
So who wouldn't want a piece of the pie, or better yet, the whole pie.
Some people can't resist buying tickets.
Why? Chemicals in the brain.

It doesn't really matter how big the jackpot is for John Q Public to play the lottery.
''I play the threes, the fours, take five, I do it all'', says John Q.

Psychologist David Zald wondered what happens in the brains of lottery players.
To find out he and his colleagues monitored the brain activity of nine volunteers as they engaged in activities where they might win some money.

''In one task we had them playing a game where they could win money and under another condition where they were playing the same game but there was no money involved'', said Zald.

The researchers measured the levels of the chemical dopamine in the volunteers' brains. Dopamine is involved with feelings of motivation and desire. When the researchers compared the results of the two different tasks they discovered that dopamine levels went up when there was a possibility of winning money.

Dr. Zald explains, "Almost certainly the anticipation or the expectation appears to make a large difference."
Zald believes that rush at just the prospect of a payoff might explain regular outbreaks of lottery fever. But Bob Vincent, spokesman for GTech, has his own explanation.

''It's a dollar and a dream'', says Bob.
A dream a lot of people seem to be having these days.