Here's how the lottery works (and why you should never play it)

Ever dreamed of winning the jackpot?

According to this video, maybe that should stay a dream.

While most people think it's just an easy and fun way to potentially win a couple bucks (or a couple million if you're the very lucky one-in-303,000,000 who does), there's a lot of hidden information tied to the lottery that most players don't know about.

For one thing, even buying a ticket is a contribution to the government. Most states have their own state lotteries, and while most of your lotto ticket purchase funnels into the jackpot amount, part of it also feeds into the government's pocket.

If you're thinking $2 doesn't seem like a big contribution, know that in 2017 some states earned around $22 billion from ticket sales.

Because of this — and because most lotto ticket buyers are low income or suffer from gambling addictions — some scholars suggest this makes the lottery a tax on the poor, albeit a voluntary one.

This is all within the state-level lotteries. There are also two big national ones: Mega Millions and Powerball, which have had enormous winnings of millions of dollars.

These big national lotteries are dependent on a lot of people buying tickets to have such high jackpots. The lower the odds of winning, the higher the prize money amount will likely be.

Any idea how these companies consistently convince tons of people to buy tickets? Curious about the supposed "lottery curse" that happens to you if you win? Watch the video above to find out more.