Restaurant workers split $4 million lottery jackpot

 with what is said above. But as anyone knows, if you buy tickets for a lottery pool, you better be buying those tickets at a different store at a different time, than your own  personal purchase! That way the others in the pool have to answer the question to the lottery office as to where the "winning ticket" was purchased! We have all read here on the LP about the lottery office asking the person who presents the winning ticket to them as to where it was purchased and what date it was purchased! Can we say "Security questioning" to make sure the rightful owner is presenting the winning ticket! 

Thats the trouble with pools...you have to share the jackpot.

"Divided 16 ways, it comes to roughly $287,000 apiece. It's a nice chunk of change, but certainly not enough to retire on."

I wouldn't complain.   Doesn't sound as if these happy winners are too upset about sharing either.

Congratulations to them.     

"Santonur Rashed has something equally important in mind. The native of Bangladesh has been sending money home to his wife. Now he plans to bring her over."

I bet he's singing God Bless America tonight.  This brings tears to my eyes.  What a nice story.

And whats wrong with Sharing?

Something is better than Nothing! They all would have gotten nothing most likely if they did not share! They would not have won if one person had just hiked it down to the store and played, most likely his ticket would have been a losing ticket, the reason they have any money now at all, is because they shared and put in the kitty to play! Something smart people do! Not selfish people!

I think I would be very happy to share and have a 1/4 of a million dollars. not bad for a days work I say! Sharing is a very wise way to go!

When you can produce more sharing than you can alone its always better to share.

Theres nothing wrong with sharing.Now you tell me whats wrong with wanting to win without sharing.

If only one of the people in the pool bought that ticket he/she would have been the only winner.Saying that "most likely his ticket would have been a losing ticket" is pretzel logic.The ticket was purchased and it won,no matter how many were in the pool,a hundred or a thousand or only one,that particular ticket won.The ticket didn't know that the purchaser was in a pool.

Sure,I'd be happy if I won a 1/4 of a million dollars.But I'd be a hell of a lot happier if I won 4 1/2 million and didn't have to share it.I don't really care who else believes that sharing is the way to go.I'm out for myself not the rest of the world.Call me selfish,I don't care.Just don't call me when I hit a jackpot because I won't be sharing then,either!

It's not about sharing, it's about odds.

"If only one of the people in the pool bought that ticket he/she would have been the only winner."

You seem to be completely missing the point of pools.  If only one person won, what about all the other people in the pool?  If there are 10 people in a pool they're 10 times as likely to win, but they're only playing for 1/10th as much. From a mathematical perspective it's an even trade, and there's no real difference between playing on your own or playing in a pool. 

You seem to be completely missing the point about this thread.Read the first post in the thread... its about sharing,or rather not sharing.Contrary to what you think,every post is NOT about odds.

I wasn't replying to the first post. I was replying to what you said in the post I quoted, and I repeated the specific part I was responding to. I'm sorry if it still wasn't clear enough. You're focusing on keeping it to yourself but ignoring that you have to reduce your chance of winning in order to do it. If you're reducing your chances of winning then it very clearly is about odds.
 

Since I have already stated that I NEVER play pools,then my chances of winning have NOT been reduced.Besides the true odds of either of us winning is...slim to none.

You may not think about it, but deciding whether or not to participate in a pool is a decision about how much you're playing for. That and every other decision you make about playing are also decisions about the odds you're playing against. By never playing in a pool you're not reducing any prize won by your ticket, but you are reducing your chances of winning that prize compared to being in a pool. You're also reducing your chances by not buying 1000 tickets, but increasing them by not buying 0, 1 or any amount that's less than what you do buy. As I said before, your chance of winning and how much you would win balance out in a pool, so it's just a matter of personal preference. The same is true with how many tickets you buy, and for which game. You can get similar odds vs prize results by playing a state game instead of being in a pool playing PB or MM. You could choose to only play pick 3, in which case you have decent odds, but you'll have to settle for a small prize, at best

Of course you're 100% right, that no matter which way you go your chances are still pretty slim for any prize that really matters.