This article was published last February when the Powerball lottery hit $500 million. The point remains the same with the even larger jackpot this week.

Financially literate people like to complain that buying lottery tickets is among the silliest decisions a person could make. And it is true that the odds of winning anything substantial, let alone the estimated $500 million that could be given away if there is a winning ticket in the Powerball lottery Wednesday, are very much stacked against you.

There is no doubt that people should not spend money on lottery tickets that they can’t afford to lose. If you have a gambling problem, or are financially destitute, it is a terrible idea. And for anyone to stake his or her financial future on lottery tickets is beyond foolish.

But there are a couple of dimensions that these tut-tutted warnings miss, perhaps fueled by a class divide between those who commonly buy lottery tickets and those who choose to throw away money on other things like expensive wine or mansions. As long as one thinks about the purchase of lottery tickets the right way — again, purely a consumption good, not an investment — it can be a completely rational decision.