Playing the lottery by yourself or with your significant other can be great fun.
But when you play with a group of friends, family members, or co-workers, you now get the opportunity to buy more tickets which gives everyone in the group more chances to win.
Benefits of playing in a group
Playing with a group means that since everyone is contributing money toward the purchase of lottery tickets, more tickets can be purchased for draws. In the event of a win, the winnings are distributed equally among the group participants.
For instance, let’s say ten people play in a group contributing $1 each, buying ten $1 tickets. The group wins $10 million on a ticket. Therefore each group member receives $1 million dollars.
In the event of smaller wins under a certain threshold, instead of the win being split among the group, the winnings can be put back into the group to purchase more tickets on the group’s behalf.
Types of group
The most common type of group play is done at work. Co-workers form a group and collect members’ contributions to the group play each week.
The more members in a group means the more tickets that can be purchased, however it also means the less money each member gets for any win.
Possible fallout
But how do you ensure that members of the group are the only ones who actually receive the winnings? And what if a member is not able to contribute one week and the group wins?
These are issues that can destroy friendships and tie up winnings for years in the courts, and need to be addressed before any tickets are bought.
Preventing issues
To ensure that group members who play are the ones who will legally share in the winnings, you will need to set out written rules and procedures, similar to a contract.
This “contract” must indicate in detail who the group captain or leader is and who is participating as a member, how much each person is paying per draw/week, and how to deal with issues that may occur.
The finished contract should also be copied and given to each group member.
Steps to success
To begin with, you will need to choose one person who will act on behalf of the group, a group captain of sorts, who will be responsible for collecting money from members, purchasing the tickets, distributing copies of the tickets, validating the tickets, and arranging payment.
The captain will write down on the contract the full name of each member of the group, their contact information, and gather each member’s signature.
The contract itself must spell out the following additional information:
- The full legal name, contact information, and required contribution amount of each player for each draw.
- Each member’s signature must appear beside their listing to indicate that they indeed are part of the group.
- How winnings will be distributed. For example, anything over a certain amount will be distributed equally among the members, and anything under a certain amount will be used to purchase more tickets in addition to or instead of, member contributions.
- Photocopies of the front and back of each purchased/free play ticket, signed by the captain in their legal name, must be provided to each member or posted in a public place after the purchase of the tickets.
- Photocopy of the receipt of the purchase provided to each member or posted in a public place.
- Whether members who are on vacation or know they won’t be able to contribute to one or more draws can pay in advance to participate or must be considered out for that draw.
- Whether ticket numbers will be chosen by the computer for each draw, or whether regular numbers submitted by members will be played.
- Where and how the tickets will be kept safe and available for inspection by the captain.
- Ensure all members are the age of majority or older to participate.
- Whether or not a member is entitled to any distribution of winnings if they have not contributed to that draw.
- Whether or not a member can pay on behalf of another member for the draw, and if that paying member is entitled to any portion of the member’s winnings they are paying for.
So although group play can be fun and can increase member’s chances of winning something over buying one or a few tickets themselves, it is imperative that you have a “contract” in place to protect all group members and to ensure that only those members of the group can legally and legitimately claim any portion of a win.
The more detailed your contract is, the better protection the members and the winnings have from those who may try to jump aboard your lottery win train.