However, faculty of science dean, Professor Nick Klomp, said buying a ticket in Tuesday’s $90 million Oz lotto draw was worth the investment just this once.

“In any normal week, the best way to be a winner is to put the money you were going to spend on lottery tickets into a savings plan,” he said.

“However, a $90 million lottery is not normal.

“As soon as the first division prize goes over $50 million, the potential payback becomes worth the investment.

“It just makes it mathematically more sensible to buy a ticket.”

But Professor Klomp is keen to point out that all of this assumes that if you win the jackpot, you aren’t sharing it.

“You need the potential payback to be at least 45 million times every dollar you spend,” he said.

“So long as you don’t think it’s an investment and you get your money back in fun, then go ahead and enjoy yourself.”

The estimated $50 million prize in last week’s lotto grew to $59.2 million before the draw, following unprecedented sales that made it the highest first-division prize lottery pool ever offered in Australia.

Despite punters spending more than $87 million in the hope of reaping the prize, it went unclaimed.

The draw attracted 79 million entries, with each entry having a one in 45 million chance of winning.

Professor Klomp puts the chance of winning the $90 million Oz Lotto draw next week as greater than one in 45 million.

“If you want an even chance to win the first division just once in your life, you would have to buy a 10-game ticket every single week of your life, even when a baby,” he said.

“Oh, and you’d have to live to be over 87 000 years old,” he added.

“You are much, much more likely to die from being struck by lightning than pick the seven winning numbers by playing a single game next week.”