How to Organize a Lottery Pool

Propose general rules of play to the potential participants. Modify and recirculate until you have agreement on these.

Include provisions for adding & deleting members, use names of the people added with a new contract each time a member is added or deleted.

Fix the amount for buy-in. No one should have a greater share just because they had more cash in their wallet that day.

Designate an administrator for the "pool" (a.k.a., group, syndicate)

Designate person(s) responsible for collecting money.

State clearly who can purchase tickets for the group and who will be the primary person responsible for this.

Require contact information be provided for every participant.

Spell out how you will claim winnings. Be explicit about whether this is uniform for all winnings or varies by amount or taxable impact.

Get it in writing. Everyone who agrees to participate should sign your rules document. This becomes your contract.

Provide copies of the winning tickets. Only scan or photocopy winning tickets. Retain the original, non-winning tickets for a specified length of time for audit purposes. Allow any member to the pool's ticket purchases by seeing the original, non-winning tickets along with the photocopied winning tickets. This will save the pool admin a lot of time and unnecessary photocopying.

Keep the names out of public record whenever possible. If you're planning to claim a jackpot, establish a blind trust or similar vehicle, then claim the winnings in the name of the trust. (This should be stated in the claims section of your rules).