How To Play The Powerball With Coworkers (And Not Kill Each Other)

With Wednesday night's Powerball jackpot having grown to $700 million, you and your co-workers are probably procrastinating on deadlines right now to create an office Powerball pool. We're in the same boat.

Listen up: This is the second largest Powerball jackpot in U.S. history. If you purchase lottery tickets as a group with an agreement to split the winnings, it increases your odds of winning and lets you socialize with people at work. However, if you actually win, things could get hairy.

Case in point: Five New Jersey construction workers had been buying lottery tickets together for years. When they finally won in November 2009, the man who actually purchased the winning ticket on his own tried to claim it for himself. (Oh no he didn't!)

Don't let that happen to you. Since these tips for how to wisely participate in a lottery pool were such a hit during last year's Powerball, we're bringing them back. Here's how to stay protected when you're playing the lottery with a group of co-workers or friends.

Rule #1: Follow The Leader
Before you embark on your journey to becoming millionaires, designate one person in your group who will be responsible for collecting tickets, checking the results and handling all of the the tickets bought within the pool. It should be someone responsible that everyone trusts. (Not Dave, who keeps borrowing your money but will totally pay you back next week).

Rule #2: Get It In Writing
This doesn’t have to be too complicated. Don’t waste (even more) money getting a lawyer to write a big, official-looking document — after all, your odds of winning are pretty close to zero. Just make sure everyone is on the same page about how numbers will be selected, whether you’ll take the annuity or lump sum, how often you will play and how you are splitting the winnings. Write that up and have everyone sign it.

Rule #3: Use That Office Xerox Machine
Make copies of the tickets for everyone participating in the pool. This way, everyone knows exactly which tickets were bought through the group, lest someone decide to cook up a story about how they bought a winning ticket on their own.

Rule #4: If You Win...
Some states allow multiple winners to claim the same prize. For states that don’t, you can set up a trust to claim the money on behalf of the group. That’s what 16 Manhattan colleagues did last May, and they each walked away with $1.65 million after taxes.

Oh, and those construction workers? The other four sued, and even without a written contract or agreement, a jury ruled that the man had to split the winnings. The main takeaway here is, don’t try to take the money and run.

See Also: Mega-Millionaire Lottery Winners: Where Are They Now?

Marc Torrence contributed to this story. Read his original post here.

Photo: Pixabay