Hopes and dreams lead people to playing the lottery. After all, anyone can go from rags to riches with a single lucky ticket purchase. So, why would celebrities who are already rich and famous want to buy lottery tickets? Let’s file this under: Celebrities, they’re just like us! One of these celebrity lottery players even ended up winning big!

George Clooney and Elizabeth Hurley Play for Charity

George Clooney net worth: £117 million
Elizabeth Hurley net worth: £23 million

Sometimes charity is the main motivation to play the lottery, not greed. In 2010, George Clooney purchased a thousand lottery tickets for SuperEnalotto, Italy’s national lottery. Elizabeth Hurley bought another 500 entries to add to the pile. Clooney and Hurley are good friends and they have generosity in common as well as their friendship. Both stars said that they bought the tickets in the hopes that they’d win big and donate the entire amount to charities that helped victims of the Haiti earthquake. Unfortunately none of their tickets won, but they ended up helping the Haitian people through a successful telethon campaign.

Paris Hilton and Simon Cowell Are Loyal Lottery Players

Paris Hilton net worth: £65 million
Simon Cowell net worth: £359 million

Just because you’re a multi-millionaire media mogul doesn’t mean you can’t dream of winning the lottery. Paris Hilton has been photographed multiple times out shopping and buying lottery tickets – in 2008, she bought 1,500 SuperEnalotto tickets. Unlike Clooney and Hurley, Hilton is on record saying that she’d only donate 10% of her winnings. Another loyal lottery playing mogul is Simon Cowell, worth over half a billion dollars. Despite his mindboggling personal wealth, Cowell still buys lottery tickets for the National Lottery. Cowell was interviewed by the Daily Mail in 2011 and said, “I still buy lottery tickets. I still play. But I tick the box that says no publicity so no one would know.”

Rich Ricci’s Hobbies Are Horses, Banking, and EuroMillions

Rich Ricci net worth: £100 million

Rich Ricci, yes that is his real name, is not your typical celebrity. He’s not a movie star or musician, but his net worth and bonuses would make even the brightest stars in Hollywood do a double-take. Ricci is the former head of Barclay’s investment bank, plagued by the Libor scandal. He retired in 2013 amid the controversy at the age of 49. Ricci owns dozens of champion horses, not a cheap hobby by any means. Despite his opulent lifestyle, Ricci was spotted buying EuroMillions tickets for the £92 million EuroMillions jackpot in June 2012. This certainly rubbed people the wrong way, but you can’t outlaw people from buying tickets. You’ll just have to purchase EuroMillions tickets yourself to balance it out. It’s like a real life version of the National Lottery’s #pleasenotthem ad campaign!

Hugh Jackman Gives Lottery Tickets as Gifts

Hugh Jackman net worth: £65 million

Hugh Jackman probably buys more lottery tickets than any other celebrity. However, he gives them all away! The lack of intimacy between cast and crew on American movie sets made Jackman so uncomfortable that he started buying every cast and crew member a lottery ticket every Friday while shooting as a fun way to bring people closer together. He’s been doing this for the past fifteen years and so far the biggest winner is someone who won $1500. We’ll work with you, Hugh!

Madonna Is the Queen of Lottery

Madonna net worth: £523 million

The richest celebrity on our list is also the luckiest! During her MDNA world tour in 2012, Madonna stopped in Italy and bought 100 SuperEnalotto and 14 SiVinceTutto tickets. What is with celebrities and Italian lotteries? The Queen of Pop matched enough numbers to win €120,000 in SuperEnalotto secondary prizes. All the money was donated to help build schools in Malawi.