Some causes I can imagine:
The simple fact is, God doesn't make you do stupid things with money.
Anyway, you're on the right track: you know the threat is there, you're asking the question.
It's all about financial education and beliefs
There's a grand unification issue at hand, and it's not strategies to dodge "this money-sink", or "that money-sink". The key issue is financial education. Understanding what money is and can do for you. Yeah, yeah, everyone thinks they know the answer to that, "it can buy me blackjack and hookers" -- and that's the problem. Everyone has an incomplete answer, and so they don't see the other, much more lucrative options available to those with a fuller education.
This is literally the difference between the rich and the poor. The rich believe money attracts more money; the poor believe money is something that only leaves their hands. That is political, even religious to each of them; they carefully collect evidence that confirms their preconceived notions and reject evidence that does not.
For instance, when Wall Street tanks, the poor declare they've taken a horrible loss, and sell off their stocks, consider this an important life-lesson, and swear to never buy stocks again. All of that jibes with their core beliefs about money, so it makes perfect sense to them. The rich take an even worse hit. But their attitude is "Oh look, Wall Street is having a half-off sale!" and they buy all the additional stocks they can. Later, of course, the market recovers. The poor sold low, locking in their losses; they are left behind and their fears are fulfilled. "See, I was right!" Meanwhile the rich see their losses recover, and they bought even more, so they make out like bandits. "See, I was right!"
All those paragraphs to say, your biggest enemy is your existing, entrenched, self-beliefs about money. I don't care who you are. They are wrong. Because they're incomplete. For best success, get rid of 'em.
It's a big world out there
Universities also have lottery winnings. Some very rich alumnus dies, and leaves them $50 million in an endowment. This actually is so common that there is very strict law about what must be done. The law (which literally has "Prudent" in its name) requires aggressive investment of the money to assure growth. That fried every brain cell I had about money, when I became someone responsible for a $8 million endowment. Everything I knew about money is wrong.
An endowment is "forever income". The money (the capital, or corpus) is invested, and only a small amount (3-7% a year) is drawn off. This funds programs, faculty members, etc. All the other investment gains are folded back into the endowment to ensure it grows against inflation. I never realized investments could generate meangful income forever, I always thought investments would eventually be used up.
So, right off the bat. The first $2 million of your lottery winnings, you slap them in an "endowment-like thing" and draw them down at a conservative 4%. This will give you $80,000 a year and still leave room for the "endowment" to grow, so the $80,000 will also grow with inflation. That funds your basic needs. (Also it's taxed as long-term capital gains, at about half normal tax rates).
If you wanted to go kowabunga, make it $5 million and $200,000/year. If you can't make your life work on $200k/year, good grief!
Anyway, with your basic life needs covered, now you can consider the rest of it more investable. Right off the bat you could just throw it in the same account and draw it down at 4-6% a year, assuring a handsome salary for life.
By the way, common mistake here. Don't dissociate yourself from your money and think of it as "not you", "mystery money", "not really yours" or "junk/mad money". And because of that, people don't respect the money, and mistreat (waste) it. Before they realize it, they are mistreating/wasting all money, and that is the road to perdition. It is your money. You paid taxes on it. Make it part of your personal identity.
And if your ethics say "I cannot be wealthy or have airs or superiority over others", boy have I got an option for you, at the end.
Anyway, you could just go off and buy a yacht (hole in the water you pour money into), but always think in terms of endowments. How will I maintain the yacht? If it cost $300,000 a year to keep up, multply that by 25 and put $7.5 million in an internal endowment for the yacht's upkeep. Suddenly you realize that $2 million yacht will tie up $9.5 million of your capital, it's a different decision, eh?
But I don't recommend too many things that are a money sink. I recommend you focus on things which have a fair chance of doing well.
Social investing. Doing the endowment thing, but investing in companies which correspond to your beliefs. This won't do as well as index funds, and the 'management costs' (picking good stocks) will be much higher.
Real estate. Normally endowments are skittish of real estate investing because it's "high maintenance" and often doesn't do as well as pure market investments. But if you want to get into it, especially if you have sweat-equity to put into it, and your local market is favorable, then rental properties may be a good investment for you. Always treat it as your business that is expected to make money on its own and measure it against any other investment.
Small business. However this is a trap for lottery-winner types; they often find themselves making emotional investments in loser businesses that no sane venture capitalist would touch: they aren't heroes, they're suckers. Be a minority investor along with real sharks, and managers who have invested their life savings (have "skin in the game"). And have competent legal counsel involved and listen to them.
Your own business. But again, swim with the sharks: seek to involve independent VC. If the VC says "ain't touching it with a 10 foot pole" then you have a loser business. If they say "I want more share for my money", you might have a winner, but get good help making it work.
Charity
The trick with charitable contributions is that you really need to plan it even before you sign the lottery ticket. Because that lottery ticket will be taxed at nearly 50% (Federal and state), and you want to shield as much of that income as possible from taxation.
So this is where you need to build a legal team (don't worry, they'll work on a "we'll bill you" basis) and strategize the best way to turn the unsigned lottery ticket into the maximum charitable contribution for the minimum possible taxes, as well as figure out all the tax angles. For instance you might form a nonprofit, then form a partnership which owns the lottery ticket; thus you and your nonprofit split the winnings and the nonprofit's share is never taxed in the first place. This is peculiar to state laws.
Anyway, you then have a nonprofit that controls a considerable nest-egg. You know what to do! Straight into an endowment with it! Then this nonprofit can give donations to other nonprofits pretty much as you direct. This can be done in several forms: A private foundation, or a simpler-for-you donor-advised fund for instance.
Another thing that can happen, but only with careful tax-law management: you can enter the employ of an existing nonprofit, and use your directable charity money to support them. You pay normal taxes on your salary. This method is very widely abused, so there are significant limits on the method; to start with, your salary has to be market competitive.