It would be interesting to investigate the following:
Assume all money spent on lottery tickets in the last ten years would have instead been put into an interest bearing account and then distributed to tzedakah/yeshivas/kollel yungerleit.
Would there be more “winning ticket” money for tzedakah from the lottery or would the money accrued have been more?
You all should know the answer.
The above stories are anecdotal and possibly apocryphal. They are certainly not productive.