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Travis Mc

United States
Member #49,240
January 24, 2007
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Jan 24, 2007, 3:08 pm

My brother and 6 other workers just decided to form a lottery pool for the powerball. So far they've all agreed to put in $4 twice a week and split the money. I wanted to help him form a simple method of running the pool and a contract to hopefully help in the event of a jackpot. Does anyone have a contract they'd like to share. I was thinking something along the lines of a one pager that they all sign when they pay for each drawing. Also copies of that page and copies of the tickets made and given to each member at each drawing. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to go about having everyone pay and in general the best way to run a lottery pool for 7-10 people. Thank you
amsoly41

Tennessee
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October 29, 2005
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Jan 25, 2007, 9:43 am

There was a good article on here under news called.
How To Protect Yourself In A Lottery Pool
news/135192.htm
I am sorry I can not give the link because of the rules for new memebers.
you may also try doing a search in your favorite search engine for Lottery pools
or do a search for the above.
this is a good thread.

Money can't buy you happiness... but it does bring you a more pleasant form of misery
Kidzmom

NC
United States
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February 23, 2005
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Jan 25, 2007, 10:02 am

Quote: Originally posted by Travis Mc on Jan 24, 2007
My brother and 6 other workers just decided to form a lottery pool for the powerball. So far they've all agreed to put in $4 twice a week and split the money. I wanted to help him form a simple method of running the pool and a contract to hopefully help in the event of a jackpot. Does anyone have a contract they'd like to share. I was thinking something along the lines of a one pager that they all sign when they pay for each drawing. Also copies of that page and copies of the tickets made and given to each member at each drawing. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to go about having everyone pay and in general the best way to run a lottery pool for 7-10 people. Thank you

Make sure to get that contract notorized!
Guru101

Indiana
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January 7, 2007
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Jan 25, 2007, 10:26 am

Also, MAKE SURE it ONLY takes affect on the tickets that are in the POOL. For example, the statement, "We agree to share the winnings." isn't good enough because lets say someone decides to go out later on and buy an extra ticket for him/herself. Well, if they hit the jackpot, when the other people find out about it, you don't want them trying to use the contract as a way to get money out of that ticket that wasn't in the pool in the first place. Include the details!!!!
Travis Mc

United States
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January 24, 2007
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Jan 25, 2007, 10:34 am

Ok.. thanks for the suggestions.. anything else? And about getting it notorized.. I was thinking of having a "new" contract for every drawing so I don't think that would work so well.
Someone has got to have a little something written up that they use at their workplace. I hope they would share.
LottoGroups

Canada
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March 19, 2006
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Jan 25, 2007, 11:32 am

Travis,
This question has been asked before. I find that the answers tend to recommend very complicated legal structures. I look back at cases where lotto groups collapsed into legal suits after a win and in all cases, the groups had absolutely no paper trail or any hint of a contract or written agreement. Of course it is important to not fall into their trap but on the other hand, it is not necessary to spends hundreds of dollars on legal and notary fees.
On that note, here is what I do for my lotto groups.
Prior to a draw in which one of my groups is buying tickets, I send an email to everyone in the group. I clearly list the names of the people in the group, how many shares each person has, the amount we will spend and the selected numbers on each ticket we will buy.
This method offers no possibility for disputes. Each person has a copy of the email. If a non-member of the group complains, each person in the group has the documentation to defend themselves. Therefore, not just the group leader holds the contract to offer a defense but every member of the group.
The main reason I go with the email notification is becuase of the fluctuations in the group membership over time. That is why drawing up a legal document with a lawyer or notary is not worth the cost. You will find the group membership will change too often to make that approach cost justifiable.
In summary, keep it simple and consistent.
See my homepage to see how my groups are organized.

Lotto Groups - the best way to win
Travis Mc

United States
Member #49,240
January 24, 2007
3 Posts
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Jan 26, 2007, 11:21 am

Ok well thanks for all the info.. It looks like the best option would be to type of a paragraph or so explaining the details then having blank lines below that. The date will be put on there for the drawing and people will sign when they pay. Copies of that and the tickets will be given to everyone.
konane

USA
United States
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March 13, 2003
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Jan 26, 2007, 11:29 am

Quote: Originally posted by Travis Mc on Jan 26, 2007
Ok well thanks for all the info.. It looks like the best option would be to type of a paragraph or so explaining the details then having blank lines below that. The date will be put on there for the drawing and people will sign when they pay. Copies of that and the tickets will be given to everyone.

I'd personally have each drawing as a competely different pool, each standing on its own merit to prevent ties to any other drawings in the event someone drops out.

Have fun and the best of luck to everyone!
Todd

50

Chief Bottle Washer

New Jersey
United States
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May 31, 2000
27,937 Posts
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Jan 26, 2007, 12:53 pm

Quote: Originally posted by amsoly41 on Jan 25, 2007
There was a good article on here under news called.
How To Protect Yourself In A Lottery Pool
news/135192.htm
I am sorry I can not give the link because of the rules for new memebers.
you may also try doing a search in your favorite search engine for Lottery pools
or do a search for the above.
this is a good thread.

The system will not flag a new member's account for posting a Lottery Post link.

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Greg

United States
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February 19, 2002
530 Posts
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Jan 26, 2007, 8:39 pm

Quote: Originally posted by Travis Mc on Jan 24, 2007
My brother and 6 other workers just decided to form a lottery pool for the powerball. So far they've all agreed to put in $4 twice a week and split the money. I wanted to help him form a simple method of running the pool and a contract to hopefully help in the event of a jackpot. Does anyone have a contract they'd like to share. I was thinking something along the lines of a one pager that they all sign when they pay for each drawing. Also copies of that page and copies of the tickets made and given to each member at each drawing. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to go about having everyone pay and in general the best way to run a lottery pool for 7-10 people. Thank you

What worked best for the pool I ran was this:
1) All money was due the last week of the month for the next month; if you did not pay, you did not play. However, I personally would put in money for the first drawing only for those who could not be found during money collection time and each and every time they reimbursed me. I was never burned. We had 8-21 members in our pool depending.
2) Everyone received a photocopy of the tickets before the drawing so there was no dispute about which tickets were the pool's and which were ones bought by an individual member (me).
If I had it to do over again (since I no longer work there), I would have played a Pick 5 game, not the 6/49 game because the smaller number field lends itself to a more likely (probable) win. We played a Jackpot game ONLY when the prize became outrageous (above $250 million).
Get a hold of some good Pick 5 wheels and win smaller amounts. Then wait for a Jackpot game to really get up there before you chase it.
KY Floyd

NY
United States
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October 16, 2005
4,772 Posts
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Jan 26, 2007, 9:37 pm

Quote: Originally posted by LottoGroups on Jan 25, 2007
Travis,
This question has been asked before. I find that the answers tend to recommend very complicated legal structures. I look back at cases where lotto groups collapsed into legal suits after a win and in all cases, the groups had absolutely no paper trail or any hint of a contract or written agreement. Of course it is important to not fall into their trap but on the other hand, it is not necessary to spends hundreds of dollars on legal and notary fees.
On that note, here is what I do for my lotto groups.
Prior to a draw in which one of my groups is buying tickets, I send an email to everyone in the group. I clearly list the names of the people in the group, how many shares each person has, the amount we will spend and the selected numbers on each ticket we will buy.
This method offers no possibility for disputes. Each person has a copy of the email. If a non-member of the group complains, each person in the group has the documentation to defend themselves. Therefore, not just the group leader holds the contract to offer a defense but every member of the group.
The main reason I go with the email notification is becuase of the fluctuations in the group membership over time. That is why drawing up a legal document with a lawyer or notary is not worth the cost. You will find the group membership will change too often to make that approach cost justifiable.
In summary, keep it simple and consistent.
See my homepage to see how my groups are organized.

"This method offers no possibility for disputes."
There is always a possibility that there will be a dispute. The only question is how easy it will be to resolve a dispute when it comes up.
An email for each drawing listing the people you believe are in the group is a good way to prove that the people listed are in the group, but why would you need to prove that somebody is in the group? The problem is that the email may not be very helpful when somebody who played last week claims that they paid this week but you accidentally left them off of the list. Their collection of emails showing that they've been part of the group for the last 3 months certainly won't help you defend against their claim.Just because you didn't intend to include them doesn't mean they didn't have a right to be included, and juries are often happy to take money from deep pockets to give to the little guy.
I think the bigger problem isn't so much in how things are documented, but in routinely having a pool with frequently changing members. Why put up with the hassles of people deciding on a weeky basis whether or not they want to play? You don't need to play for every drawing, but anyone who wants to be part of the pool should commit to being in every drawing the pool plays, or they shouldn't play at all. If everybody plays every time the pool buys tickets you won't need new documentation for every drawing. You'll have one standard agreement, and nobody should have something saying they're usually part of your pool. I don't particularly advocate spending a couple of hundred bucks having a lawyer draw up a contract when you'll probably never win enough to end up in court, but unless you make major changes to how your pool works an agreement can be reused whenever members change. Having the agreement notarized would only cost a couple of bucks, and if you ever do wind up in court you'll probably be very glad you spent the money.