You're absolutely right, and the lotteries use marketing tactics to continually increase their revenue.
For some people, to not play is to win. I started playing scratchoffs Jan 2016 after receiving some $1/$2 scratchoffs for Christmas, and I didn't even know scratchoff tickets existed before receiving them. I had a spree of "beginner's luck" encountering 6 $500 winners in one weekend, and then a $1k winner during that same span of time. After that, I encountered probably a 6 month dry streak and quickly went back into the negative. Even if someone hits $100, or $500, if they can't hit it frequent enough, they'll be in the negative. Hitting something huge like a $10k+ winner can also change that, but the odds of those wins are so statistically unlikely that the best method is just to be one. For many $5 tickets here, those odds are 1/120k. With 60 tickets in a book, that means 1 in every 2000 books should have a $10k winner. At $300 a book, it would cost $600k to "guarantee" that type of win at that prize tier. With those books offering a minimum return of $105/$300, and the average book wavering around $150, it is clear to see that the lottery wins the more you play. There's just the right number of big winners out there to lure people into scratchoffs when the average payout is going to be abysmal.
When one crunches the numbers, it is also how apparent it is a losing proposition. Have you withdrawing only a certain amount of money for lottery every week, or two weeks and then using credit cards for all your day to day purchases? You can leave your debit card at home because encountering a losing streak on scratchoff tickets can easily result in chasing with someone with our tendencies. Something that my brain still failed to keep in mind is that a losing streak doesn't necessarily mean a big winner is coming out, nor that a person should keep buying into a losing streak. More often than not, buying into a streak of losing tickets is going to result in buying into a "minimum payout book" like the $105/$300 example.
Whatever works for you, if that's going cold turkey, then I'd recommend trying that. Perhaps you might also try only playing draw games since those are a much lower buy in, and don't break the bank account. Anyway, sorry to hear about the recent crappy luck. For hardcore scratchers, I know it can be frustrating to lose so much money in a short span of time. I'd seriously recommend a break at this point.