I've never won anything...I remember wasting $20 on 4 scratch tickets & winning nothing...and I felt stupid for wasting $20, and never playing again.
Yet- I had no problem throwing a few hundred dollars on Sydney Ponson just last month.
Funny, isn't it? I went to Vegas in January with my old lady, and I got hammered for around $500 in one particular blackjack session. That didn't bother me...what did was when I found her playing slots and she talked me into throwing $2 into a machine next to her just for fun. Of course I lost, and I was genuinely pissed at myself for being so stupid.
I played a scratch off in high school...my buddy and I just turned 18, and on the way home we stopped to get something to eat and saw a machine standing outside the supermarket. We both lost, and I decided "Fuck this stupid scam" to myself. I haven't played one of those since, and don't plan on it. The juice the government enjoys on those is enough to classify it as fucking stealing from people...