"When you play the lottery, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. But it's better than using drugs or alcohol because when you use drugs or alcohol, you always lose" - "American Movie"
People who don't play the lottery are always so quick to dismiss it. They disregard how accessible it is - you don't need a next-gen console or flat-screen tv, just cash - as they disregard how independently fun it is - you could be sitting alone in a dark room with nothing but a lottery ticket in your hand and be perfectly satisfied with fantasies of winning. It's like discussing guns with people who will never use them.
Let's not get too carried away by sensationalism and look at this from a bird's-eye view: lotteries are great sources of revenue (better than state corporate income taxes? Holy cow!), they are low-health-risk (someone may need treatment for gambling addiction but it never hurts their lungs or livers), and they are easy to scale up and down.
If the regressive-tax-on-the-poor argument is too convincing for you to resist, then here's a solution: register lottery purchases so you can only buy $X in lottery tickets based on your $Y income. Just don't come crying to me when the state comes for your income and property taxes to make up the difference...