That is why I do not play "work pools." But people need to realize that pools are a "pay per play" basis usually, you can't take short cuts. If you did not put your money into the draw, you are not in that draw. It is that simple. I don't care if you put in the draw 20 years, if your money is not in for the winning draw, you are out. It is that simple. If you did not play for 20 years, and just happen to play during the winning draw, congratulations on being a millionaire.

Casual groups can easily lead to problems. With the groups I join or organize, I insist on being very specific about who is in and who is out. I have just recently decided to always include everyone's name in the email announcing the purchase of tickets.

For a lot of the regular players, I do not base their membership in the group on whether they have paid or not. I just consider it as money oweing. That is simply my preference and it allows me to have more people in each group for each draw.

No Money, No Claim to any prize! That is the best reason as to why I do not "Ever" put money in a lottery pool of any kind! My money will never be tied up for 2 or 3 years, because of some other fool hearted selfish turkey just because they thought they deserve some of the winnings for some reason or another! You paid your money or you didn't, and if you didn't, TO BAD, there is no sharing the wealth with a non payer! 

I've said this here before on several occasions: Never EVER play in a lottery pool unless EACH member of the pool has been given a photocopy of all the tickets bought BEFORE the drawing AND there is a list of all pool members playing that particular drawing.

I put money in for a member who did not give me his/her money ahead of time on occasion and not once did I get stiffed; if I did I would never do the same for him/her again and I would have documented that failure in the event we won down the road and said member tried to "sue".

As for this case, I do not know the specifics but as the person who selected and bought the numbers for the pool I used to run, I covered my butt before, during and after.

Thats so lame, that guy has no case he's mad because he gets no money, and 13.6 million is not alot of money 5 ways.  and the guy in california has no case, just greedy people trying to get some money for nothing.

The usual tiresome co-worker squabbles. It will be nice if they say to him "You didn't pay that drawing, you admit you didn't pay, you're out, you get nothing, think about that the next time you blow your last dollar." But I guess it will depend on how many tickets the group got for that drawing with one person allegedly not included vs. what they usually get with him included. If they bought fewer for that drawing because he hadn't paid so they counted him out, then his request was either not made or rejected.  I would think think it would be okay to say "No" to his request and that would be an adequate defense.

3/23/2006

Fst...I never said that Notary Publics could offer Legal Advice.

2nd..I never said they could prepare any Legal Documents.

3rd....I never said they could put their seal to Documents that would violate their Notary Oath or it's responsibilities.

4th....Contracts which have been Notarized, are binding and valid, and can be argued over in Court. They are respected in any Court of Law, but that's not to say cannot be challenged. Everything can be challenged, but the Notary Seal, because it Authenticates and Validates the Document w/the signatures on it, is respected in Court as a genuine understanding and agreement between athe parties that signed it. 

4th...I said if the 'Office Pool' writes up an agreement among themselves, which includes the signatures of all the Parties of the Pool and has it Notarized, it is technically a 'binding contract' among it's members, which is respected in Court. This certainly is the case in the District and Maryland. However, anyone can argue against it in Court, as you can argue against any Contract. The Courts will still respect the Contract/Agreement.

Libra- Thanks for sharing your thoughts! My post was to educate . Part of my career position required that I take a course in contractual law so its not as cut and dry as it appears in your above post.  I'll respect this difference of some facts and wish the gentleman from canada a fair and just hearing on his case :)

You are correct, GameGrl. The role of a notary public is only to verify that the signature/s on a document is/are those of the signatory/ies. Notarizing a document does not make it any more legal and binding than it was before it was notarized. An invalid document does not become valid just because it is notarized. A document does not have to be notarized in order to be valid or binding.

The determination of the validity of any document does not rest upon whether the document is notarized or not.

Simply put, the notary public acts as a public witness to the document he notarizes, and as such public witness, he has a written record of the signatures on the document.

As to whether a document is legal and binding, if there is any question on that issue, it is the court that decides AFTER due hearing. This is what due process is all about.

HAPPY FRIDAY........EVERYONE..3/24

I shared all this info because I have been a Notary Public in a previous employment position. I took the  Notary Test and passed at 100%.

I realize, from your responses,  that you are not quite understanding the 'context' of what I am saying, but it's alright.  While all the  information, I was sharing, is in point of fact accurate, the bottom line is gambling within an 'Office Pool' is in and of itself a 'gamble'.  Sometimes it gets so complicated, one begins to wonder if it's worth it. I don't mind the 'pools' but prefer small, intimate groups of no more than 5 or 6 max.