People who spend a lot of time playing lottery learn tricks that they use to increase their chances. I got to a point, myself, where I could play and not lose a whole lot of money. I wasn’t making much, but I was almost at an equilibrium between my spending and my earnings.
Scratch tickets have at best a 80% RTP, and more likely a 60-70% RTP, but typically the scratch ticket player is buying only a few tickets at a time, so when the player finally does get a sizeable win, it is easy for them to think they are ahead of the game, while quickly forgetting about all those times before when they didn't win. In other words, that $250 win is likely offset by $500 or more of losses from previous sessions.
As with slots, the higher jackpots go with the higher bets. People who buy $1 tickets tend to funnel any winnings right back into buying additional cards. Just like the penny slot machine player will typically keep on spinning until they are out of money, despite having been ahead a time or two during the session.
The people I know who have won sizeable jackpots on scratch tickets ($1,000 or more) have done so on $5, $10 or more cards. I know one $500k winner who won on a $20 card. The dollar ones are pretty much crap. Don't know of any big winners on a dollar card.