justxploring, I read something a long while back on just that subject! From what I remember, it said, "as long as you bought the pool tickets at one store" and then made your personal purchase/numbers at another store, then there shouldn't be any conflict! But if you were to purchase all tickets at the same store and the others in the pool knew that, then you are bound to have a court battle on your hands if your numbers won! Best thing to do is to buy the pool tickets at one store and then a few hours later buy your personal tickets at the store you always buy your tickets from! Never buy pool tickets from the same store you buy your personal tickets from, "that's a no, no".

We (my wife & I) buy one Megamillions in Illinois on Tuesday & one on Friday (quick picks).We also buy one Powerball ticket on Wednesday & one on Saturday (we've been playing the same numbers for years).My wife also buys one Hot Lotto for each drawing on Wednesday & Saturday (quick pick).It doesn't matter what size the jackpots are,we only buy one ticket per drawing.My wife sometimes kicks in to a pool at work when the jackpot reaches 100 million dollars,but there are only 5 people in the pool.They have an agreement that if someone hits with their own numbers,the others can't make a claim on it.(We'll see if they feel the same way if one of them hits.)We haven't hit anything big yet,but we keep hoping.My personal numbers have never come up together in the history of Powerball,all of the numbers have hit before,but never in this combination.My wife thinks we should change numbers but I'm sure if we do,these numbers will come up and then I would be pissed!

"They have an agreement that if someone hits with their own numbers, the others can't make a claim on it.(We'll see if they feel the same way if one of them hits.)"

You don't need an agreement for that, because nobody is entitled to something that isn't theirs. What you need is a good agreement that covers who is in the pool, how many tickets the pool will buy, and how the tickets will be chosen and purchased. In the event that there is ever a dispute (and if any member of the pool wins you can be pretty sure there will be a dispute) it needs to be completely clear which tickets belong to the pool. An agreement about tickets you bought for yourself will be completely meaningless if members of the pool can convince a jury that the winning ticket belongs to the pool.

As Barista says, personal tickets and pool tickets should be bought at different locations, at the very least.  Pool tickets should also be bought all at once, because there will be a record of the sale. If it's a small pool and an individual member chose to buy the same number of tickets for themselves it would be a good idea to break it up into two smaller purchases at different locations. I know a lot of pools prefer quickpicks, but my personal feeling is that a pool should play numbers that they can document ahead of time in the agreement. There is no way to guarantee that there won't be a dispute if a member wins with their own ticket, but the best defense you could hope for would be a plaintiff that can only prove you agreed to share a prize froma set of numbers that aren't on your ticket. 

 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.