I've been thinking about this for months.

Recently I posted in a thread my belief that some people just enjoy the "action" of the lottery. Whether it is scratching the scratch-off tickets or selecting the numbers for the daily draw, the objective of their play seems to be not to win big, but to win enough to continue playing.

There is at least one "regular" who has posted more pick-3 systems than anyone sane would know what to do with (which may indicate another issue). The only thing is that they've never had the patience to stick with any of their systems and hone the filters a bit. Even the ones that have proven profitable in backtesting were quickly dropped for the next new idea. I differentiate "worthwhile" as a subset of "profitable". All worthwhile systems are profitable. Not all profitable systems are worthwhile (e.g., spending $39 to win $40)

It's like watching those shows where the two guys go on and on about how to catch the biggest fish - this type of bait or lure, that location, this time of year, that weight of line. Then they cast their line into the water, catch a nice sized fish, then throw it back. "Sport" fishing. I can see where it makes sense as a how-to demo for survivalists. For lottery players, it's just odd. May as well go to the casino. At least get some pretty lights and bells for your trouble.