Lotteries are as addictive as gambling because if you buy lottery once then you will probably buy it again in the hope of winning the grand prize.
The failure in winning the lottery triggers our inner emotions to keep trying again and again making us addictive towards the grand prize.
So I would say this is the same as gambling and we should try to have a self control and limit ourselves from buying these lotteries.
Gambling is very different from Lottery in terms of risk-reward relationship. In gambling, you take a risk and get a reward (or lose money) immediately. The instant relationship between risk and reward generates excessive dopamine in the brain. This excessive flow of dopamine induces the gambler to continue betting more if he is on winning streak or significantly increase the bet amount if he is losing.
But lottery is not as risky as gambling because there is adequate time differential between risk taking and reward winning which balances the dopamine and player doesn't make the sentimental decisions. Secondly, the amount at stake per action is much lesser in lottery as compared to gambling. I was trying the new lottery game launched on BC.GAME earlier today and the cost per ticket was only $0.10. So, even if I lose, it's not like I am going to spend whole of my stack on the lottery tickets the next day which significantly reduces the risk of bankruptcy compared to gambling.
Nevertheless, considering the winning probability in lottery, it is surely an economically wasteful activity and in majority of the cases always a sunk cost (unlike gambling). But it's human tendency to always seek for
hope and the major reason why lottery still exists after the 6 centuries since the first recorded lottery draw.