In a formal opinion, the state attorney general has declared that Tennessee law prohibits participation in a lottery pool "managed by a third party" — throwing cold water on a Blount County man's idea for a part-time business, though apparently not on informal pools among friends.
State Rep. Bob Ramsey, R-Maryville, said he requested the opinion from Attorney General Bob Cooper after a "senior citizen" constituent asked if his idea of a part-time retirement business would be legal.
Basically, the idea was to collect money for buying a large block of lottery tickets with the agreement that any winnings would be split among purchasers — with the money collector getting a fee for his services or a share of any winnings, Ramsey said.
When Cooper issued the opinion and posted it on the attorney general's website, the question was posed as: "Is it lawful to conduct a lottery-ticket pool in which Tennessee lottery ticket holders pool their tickets and share in any prizes awarded on winning tickets?"
I have a feeling that, these guys don't have anything better to do. Pools are universal. What's up Tennessee?.
It's like this in many states, but it's just not every day that you get the Attorney General to issue a formal opinion about it.
two words: dragon lady
This kind of lottery pool sounds Hokey. Why should the money collector get a fee if he is sharing in the proceeds on an equal basis,with the pool members?
IMHO & FWIW
The fact that the pool manager/controller/collector/whatever wants to be paid is probably the reason for
the adverse ruling.
Only ONE lottery entity can make a profit - the State of Tenn.
I think the wording of ' he gets his fee OR a share of the winnings' .
By this, I assume he would charge people for buying tickets, whether they won or not, and most likely it would be "not". But that he would share in the pot if they won anything.
I don't think I would want to participate in his business.
Doesn't hurt to ask.
As long as you know the answer is gonna be NO.
And the question doesn't really matter.
The answer is always NO.
"with the money collector getting a fee for his services or a share of any winnings"
The laws against this are pretty universal. The reason is that a pool manager collecting a fee for issuing tickets constitutes acting as an agent of the lottery. Even if he/she has a lottery license it is against most regulations to host a lottery pool if he/she receives compensation without participation (and in some places, altogether prohibited, compensated or not...again it's all about acting as an agent of the lottery).
I THINK OHIO IS CHEATING ON THEIR GAME CLASSIC LOTTO THAT HAS NOT BEEN HIT IN ALMOST 4 YEARS!!! CHEATING AZZES!!!!
Funny you say that..lol I've said the same thing for months now. I remember they'd always hit by the time it reaches $9 million and now its over $70 million and no one has won. I'm going to give it to the end of next month & if it doesn't hit I'm going to quit playing, if it does hit, I'm still going to quit playing, at least until it reaches over $50 million again. All this dammmn $$ wasted. I only draw $3 out of my usual $10 for this game. Classic is a rip off.
Is the classic drawn manually from a tumbler machine or electronically? I hate electronic draws. I feel it can be manipulated by some computer geek.
Electronic. I wish they'd go back to the LIVE tumbler machines.
YOU RIGTH AT NEED TO BE LIVE ON TV IF WE AND ALL THE PEOPLE,S GET TO Gather AND Forth TO PUT IT BACK LIVE ON TV IT WILL WORK.
Ohio Classic is drawn mechanically. Drawings are open to the public.
All the arguments that arise,statements that are made,the complaints,or whatever ,Tennessee lottery is a joke in this country,everyone knows it,nothing will ever be done about it.Just keep your money because you wont now or ever win here.I see it everyday.
I suppose when someone does win you'll claim it was an inside job in spite of the fact during the entire history of the game there have only been a handful of jackpot winners. I think if matching three paid more like $5 instead of $2 players would take more chances and buy more tickets.
Do this country,Tennesseans a favor ,close the doors.
Players in Tennessee have made their choice, if enough of them weren't playing then the doors would be closed.
Wrong. They are mechanical and clips of them are archived at the website for anyone who would like to watch them.
Can't find the actual ticket sales for Classic Lotto by drawing so I can only guess it averages around 300,000 based on the jackpot increases. I did find where Classic lotto had $42.3 million in ticket sales for 2012 and that average is around 275,000 per drawing. Nether figure is enough to expect lots of jackpots and with only a 2% chance of having jackpot winner every drawing, it could be a very long time.
If the sales are 300,000, at best there should be an average of only six 5 of 6 matches per drawing. Players get better odds and better payoffs playing pick-4 so it should be obvious why the OCL sales are low. Ohio has two other big jackpot games so if they want to increase OCL ticket sales, they could create a must win jackpot level and if not won, distribute the jackpot in the secondary prizes.
"if they want to increase OCL ticket sales, they could create a must win jackpot level and if not won, distribute the jackpot in the secondary prizes."
Like that Winfall game in Massachusetts where all the big spenders came in at the last minute and brought most of the second tier prizes to win most of the jackpot money. I think state lottery commissions should have learned a lesson from that, I doubt if that will happen again in the near future.
Well, the upcoming $5 national game has a similar premise....jackpot capped at $50 million and higher secondary prizes if not won. But, it will never have a Winfall exploit situation due to the odds and cost.
Sounds nice but who will be interested in paying $5 for a ticket for a game with a $50M cap when with the promotion Ohio has on for MM buy 2 get 1 free they can buy a ticket for game up to a $100M cap for 67¢?
shadowlady:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>!!!!!!!!!!
Someone is thankful they didn't close the doors.
You can be sure it wasn't one of those Tennessee losers who said they never buy lottery tickets in state.
Don't forget those big spenders were taking a chance nobody but them would win the jackpot. The lottery notified the players when there were roll backs, but one player or group bought enough tickets to trigger a roll back leaving the lottery without enough time to notify all the players.
That MM promotion in Ohio shows how that lottery feels about the OCL game.
The lottery is in the business of making money not losing it.
The lottery belongs to Tennessee state.