The key to getting rich and staying rich is figuring out how to risk other people's money. If you want to buy millions of lottery tickets, or launch a startup, or start a poker career, or anything really, it's far better to do it without risking your own security. Let other people invest in your venture for a reasonable return if you succeed, but also make sure you some non-trivial amount of equity for yourself so you make a killing if it's wildly successful.
This is how most VC backed unicorns have worked. The early investors made a lot, but the founders who mostly only risked their time, energy, and opportunity-costed salary made far, far, far better returns.
My reading is different, it’s more "together with the kelly criterion or a weaker version of it, you can say it doesn’t matter if you do". This is still "eh maybe I’ll be lucky" and not "it’s mathematically sensible" because
> What it means is that you would have to play the game for thousands of years with the jackpot being greater than 117 million each time in order to realize a positive expected return.
Are you sure? That article ignores the chance of a split pot, and a positive EV lottery jackpot increases the odds of a split pot by motivating buyers.
[0]: https://uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/saturday-fun-...