In aggregate, all lottery runs put together take in more than they pay out. But an individual lottery run might be -EV for the state if the jackpot has grown enough; however, that only happens after no one wins the lottery for weeks on end, at which point the state has run even bigger profits than before. Once someone wins that big jackpot, the state may pay out more than it took in that particular week, but still less than it took in for the several weeks leading up to the jackpot finally being won.