You can google “may one play the lottery [i.e. purchase a lottery ticket]?” for the opinion of the Shulchan Aruch HaRav. also heard that Rav Ovadia and Rav Avraham Shapira allowed buying Israeli lottery tickets as they go for tzedaka purposes. Also, the odds are so enormous that any normal person will think that the money is gone. From the standpoint of taking the money if one wins, the sponsor knows that it will have to pay up someone eventually. There have actually been dinei Torah regarding someone who bought a ticket for someone else or received a ticket when buying something for someone else.
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