Well, in what way is buying a ticket not paying other people to provide you an experience which you can't get otherwise on your own?
In the way that I can, on my own, daydream about having a million dollars. I don't need to pay other people for that.
If you want a strictly positive chance at getting a million dollars and the thrill of looking up the lottery drawings to see if you won, then you have to pay for it. People buy lottery tickets to have a fleeting, tangible hope, not just an imagined one.
Another month, another rationality quotes thread. The rules are: