Texas United States
Member #86,151
January 30, 2010
1,889 Posts
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Quote: Originally posted by GiveFive on Mar 3, 2014
Yes I play in an office pool. I run it.
There are approximately 20 people who play, sometimes there are more than 20 people, sometimes there are less than 20.
I run around and collect either 1 dollar from anyone who wants to play if we play Mega. I collect 2 bucks if we play PowerBall. I keep a list of names of everyone who plays for each drawing. Your name does not go on the list if you didnt pony up. I save all of the lists of names because sometimes a person doesnt play but they did play last time. If we won 3 bucks last time we played and because I roll that 3 bucks into the next time we play, I figure the person who played last time should be in the mix if we won the JP for the current drawing because they won a small fraction of that 3 bucks we won last time we played. To me that's the ethical (not to mention morally correct) thing to do.
I scan all the tickets I bought with pool money, and send everyone that played an email with the PDF file of the tickets in it.
A legal agreement? What's that?
Because JP's get big fairly frequently these days, we play only when either the MM or PB jackpot is geater than 300 million. I wont run around collecting money and do all that other work for a 40 million dollar JP. And I dont want to be a pain in the butt to the people I work with by bugging them for money every week. They probably dont have it every week either. There are weeks where "Joe" will pay for his buddy "Jim" to be in the pool because Jim hasnt got the two bucks to play but Joe does. I'm sure management where I work wouldn't like me running a pool every week either. Because I run the pool, I dont pay for anybody but myself. I cant afford to cover people who dont have it or are on vaction or out sick etc. I may not ever see my money again if I did that, and I cant afford that. Nor am I running a charity either. If a player misses a drawing, and they weren't in the last drawing where we won 3 bucks, then they will not share in any major winnings should we be so lucky. If the pool votes/decides to cut that guy in because he always played in the past and was out sick the day I collected money, then that's fine with me.
I roll any winnings where an individual player cant be paid back the amount they chipped in back into the pool for the next time we play. That happens about a little more than half of the times we play because I do self picks for either the PB number or the Mega number. (If we play PB and I have a total of 40 bucks of pool money to buy tickets, I self pick 20 of the 35 PB numbers. By doing that we hit just the PB fairly regularly and win 3 bucks)
Your name does not go on the list if you didnt pony up. I save all of the lists of names because sometimes a person doesnt play but they did play last time. If we won 3 bucks last time we played and because I roll that 3 bucks into the next time we play, I figure the person who played last time should be in the mix if we won the JP for the current drawing because they won a small fraction of that 3 bucks we won last time we played. To me that's the ethical (not to mention morally correct) thing to do.
Interesting. Let's dissect all this. You said that a person's name doesn't go on the list if they didn't pony up (pay). Then, a person may not play on this draw but, they did on the last draw and that if $3 was won on last draw you roll it into the next draw. However, even though a person in question doesn't 'pony up' for the current draw and shouldn't be on the list, they're entered anyway because they also won a small fraction of the $3 and should be in the mix in the event of a jackpot win. Hmmm. What happens if (2) or more people can't or don't play this draw after the pool having won $3 last time? Who are you going to leave out in this scenario? Who's gonna play for them? What you've done here is effectively created a standard where if there's money won from a previous draw, then folks don't have to play if they don't want to and should still be entered into the current draw. This, as opposed to leaving that money in the pot to possibly grow and play more tickets.
If a player misses a drawing, and they weren't in the last drawing where we won 3 bucks, then they will not share in any major winnings should we be so lucky. If the pool votes/decides to cut that guy in because he always played in the past and was out sick the day I collected money, then that's fine with me.
Here we a situation where a vote will take place, in the event of a major win, and decide whether Cletus should partake in the pot after having been absent etc. What happens if someone had or is having a beef with Cletus over work ethics or other personal issues outside the workplace and Cletus's fate is dependant upon that vote? What if Cletus presently owes people money that payed for him to play times before? What happens when Joe pays for Jim this time, there's $3 won, and neither Joe or Jim can afford to play next time...but Cletus owes Joe money? Dude...
I cant afford to cover people who dont have it or are on vaction or out sick etc. I may not ever see my money again if I did that, and I cant afford that.
These are all the reasons why there should be a written, signed, and notarized agreement on hand for everyone so there's no confusion. Things will arise when a very large sum of money becomes involved...personal issues. But, if there's an agreement present, nothing matters except what's in black and white...stamped and signed. I admire the way you think for the most part but, you're really asking for lots of trouble in the long run. I could've went into way more detail but, I think you get my point...at least I hope so. Good luck to all of you!
L.L.
Small games, frequent wins, and regular payouts 'cause.....
There are seven days in the week...'Someday' isn't one of them.
Jacksonville, Florida United States
Member #140,358
March 17, 2013
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I run 3 seperate pools. All 3 of them signed agreements.
2 of them are state lottery games and I have 10 people in each one, all but 2 are in the same ones. For those 2 they pay for the entire month upfront. any winnings go towards next month dues. Any left over change per person is combined and extra tickets are bought for the first drawing of the month.
The 3rd is Powerball, I have 20 people max and only played when JP is $100+ million. Because people work on different shifts, I require $10 minimum payment, this also prevents me from having to try and chase people down every Sun-Wed and Thurs-Sat. I track the money with an excel sheet I created that shows how much money people have remaining. When they are low on funds their names and balances are highlighted in orange. When they have less then $2 then their name/balance is highlighted in red. This is written in the agreement too. If they leave the place of employment, they may stay in the pool as long as they have a balance, once its depleted they are out of it. Winnings of $100 or less goes towards extra tickets regardless of JP. I keep a trail of winnings and tickets purchased so if person A is not in a drawing but we win $50, then the remaining 19 people only get 25 extra tickets. It's a lil bit of work, but I dont mind the extra work for a few million one day.
Texas United States
Member #86,151
January 30, 2010
1,889 Posts
Offline
Quote: Originally posted by schmuckatelly on Mar 3, 2014
I run 3 seperate pools. All 3 of them signed agreements.
2 of them are state lottery games and I have 10 people in each one, all but 2 are in the same ones. For those 2 they pay for the entire month upfront. any winnings go towards next month dues. Any left over change per person is combined and extra tickets are bought for the first drawing of the month.
The 3rd is Powerball, I have 20 people max and only played when JP is $100+ million. Because people work on different shifts, I require $10 minimum payment, this also prevents me from having to try and chase people down every Sun-Wed and Thurs-Sat. I track the money with an excel sheet I created that shows how much money people have remaining. When they are low on funds their names and balances are highlighted in orange. When they have less then $2 then their name/balance is highlighted in red. This is written in the agreement too. If they leave the place of employment, they may stay in the pool as long as they have a balance, once its depleted they are out of it. Winnings of $100 or less goes towards extra tickets regardless of JP. I keep a trail of winnings and tickets purchased so if person A is not in a drawing but we win $50, then the remaining 19 people only get 25 extra tickets. It's a lil bit of work, but I dont mind the extra work for a few million one day.
When you deal with people and money in this capacity, you're conducting business...and folks take their money seriously if they value their hard work. This is the way you run a pool and maintain all the 'checks and balances' if you get my drift. Yes, it is a bit of work but, it reflects directly on your professionalism and says a lot about your character! In the event of a win, everyone is on the same page without question. Nice!
L.L.
Small games, frequent wins, and regular payouts 'cause.....
There are seven days in the week...'Someday' isn't one of them.