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MonteSS

East Tennessee
United States
Member #22,801
October 2, 2005
12 Posts
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Oct 3, 2005, 7:20 pm

I was thinking of an idea where as lots of people on this board would buy, let's say, 50 tickets for a Powerball drawing on some predetermined date in the future.

Everyone could wheel their favorite numbers, post them on a specific board and, if one member wins - all would win? It would take a little planning and honesty on people's part, but 5,000 numbers sure has better odds than 50 lone numbers?

If anyone is interested, maybe we should talk and possibly organize such an adventure, nobody could really cheat, because everyone's numbers would be here for all to see. Then whoever the winning ticket holder is - he or she could notify everyone of a date/time/meeting place to slice the pie.

Just an idea?

Who are you, do I know you, where have you been, why are you calling now?

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iam713

Jonesboro,Ga
United States
Member #21,752
September 14, 2005
71 Posts
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Oct 3, 2005, 7:31 pm

I really like your idea, that how that bowling team won. Bringing in a larger scale win make odds better. But is that against the LP rules. We don't want to do anything to cause termination or membership.

"Where your heart is, so shall it be"
JAP69

South Carolina
United States
Member #6
November 4, 2001
8,968 Posts
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Oct 3, 2005, 7:35 pm

A person could post the 50 lines but for some reason not buy the lines for that drawing. Big trouble for that person if the lines won a prize.

Or they could purchase the lines and win and say they did not buy the lines.

I would not trust my own brother on a deal like that.

Just my opinion.

Numbers are where you find them.
RJOh

100

mid-Ohio
United States
Member #9
March 24, 2001
20,272 Posts
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Oct 3, 2005, 8:01 pm

Good luck finding 100 people willing to buy 50 PowerBall tickets on their own and split their winnings with 99 other people they've never met.

If you're really interested in trying something like that, it would probably be better to organize 100 people in your area that you know and could watch if you didn't trust them.

Todd, the webmaster talked about looking into organizing a LP pool some time back where everyone interested would send their money in ahead of the drawing and an agent for LP would purchase the tickets, but it must have been more trouble than it was worth because he never followed up with it.

If I was going to enter a 5000 lines pool, I would want a strategy other than just buying a bunch of QP's. Lots of towns and stores in PB states sell more than 5000 tickets for every drawing and never have a winner bigger than $25. Also I would want to see some demo runs before the actual event.

RJOh

* you don't need to buy every combination, just the winning ones *
MonteSS

East Tennessee
United States
Member #22,801
October 2, 2005
12 Posts
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Oct 3, 2005, 8:09 pm

Great insight RJ and JAP - I guess it would be nerve racking - especially if someone in Colorado won and they wanted to meet in Kansas to divvy up the dough. Or maybe the person would just drop out of sight, delete their isp and move overseas. I guess I'm just too trusting at times. bad idea after all i guess, that's why many heads are better than ONE. Thanks all

Who are you, do I know you, where have you been, why are you calling now?

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Jake649

Canada
Member #2,673
November 2, 2003
497 Posts
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Oct 4, 2005, 9:12 am

I had suggested this type of pool a while back and got very little interest. There are some simple rules that can be used to prevent or limit members's ability to cheat. I called the pool the 500 Group and it would be used once the jackpot reached $500 million.

My previous suggestion was to only post 5 numbers (one line) per member and then the member buys every Mega ball for that set of 5 numbers.

Based upon past responses I am not very confident that there are enough LP members to get a group off the ground.

Good luck,
Jake
four4me

MD
United States
Member #1,701
June 18, 2003
10,731 Posts
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Oct 4, 2005, 2:27 pm

As far as pools go any pool over 10 people is inviting more problems than it's worth. Some members might want cash other's annuity. Unless the pot is over 200 million who's going to be happy with the split of say an 80 mill pot after taxes for 100 members.

Any pool between different states might involve some form of contractual agreement. And aren't some states not allowed these pool arrangements?

And even buying 5000 tickets won't guarantee a jackpot win or even enough to pay off the initial investment.

Big John says. You don't hit the number. The number hits you!!!!

I'm not Big John, I'm Four4me, Big John's a friend.
RJOh

100

mid-Ohio
United States
Member #9
March 24, 2001
20,272 Posts
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Oct 4, 2005, 3:04 pm

The way I've read that those pools work is the organizer submits a form with each member SSN and every one is responsible for their own taxes, so a $100M cash jackpot divided by 100 would be a million dollars for each member. The question then becomes can 100 people be found that would be willing to spent $50 for a chance to share a $100M jackpot at odds of 1:1,461,079 about the same odds that they could get for $10 on a local 649 game with a jackpot 5x that size and the winner keeps it all.

* you don't need to buy every combination, just the winning ones *
Chewie

Sparta, NJ
United States
Member #18,330
July 9, 2005
1,977 Posts
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Oct 4, 2005, 3:45 pm

The post-win cash/annuity decision would not be a problem in NY or NJ. You have to choose when you buy the ticket. You cannot change your mind later.

The group grope does raise a question though. In NJ some one has to sign the ticket. Who signs for the group? How do the taxes go after that? I guess you could solve that with an LLC, but who wants that bother - until after the win.

|||::> *'`*:-.,_,.-:*''*:--->>> Chewie <<<---.*''*:-.,_,.-:*''* <:::|||

I only trust myself - and that's a questionable choice
Raven62

25

New Jersey
United States
Member #17,842
June 28, 2005
180,983 Posts
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Oct 4, 2005, 4:53 pm

Too late to do it tonight.
SirMetro

East of Atlanta
United States
Member #6,191
August 11, 2004
1,390 Posts
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Oct 5, 2005, 11:06 am

You may want to do a web search for "Lottery Syndicate" software. It is software designed to facilitate tracking of large groups of numbers for pools of people playing. It seems to be popular idea in Europe, but I seriously doubt you are going to get any participation from online folks. Perhaps consider something local with your office or neighbors. When it comes to money, folks like to have someone they can look in the face to holler at (good or bad).

At least that's my suggestion.

Sir Metro

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