A
Guide To Setting Up Your Own Lottery Syndicate
By David Masters
Unless
you spend a fortune on lottery tickets each week, there is
no better way to play the lottery than in a syndicate. This
is statistically proven but it doesn't take a degree in mathematics
to work out that the more entries you play, the better your
winning odds. So if you are thinking of setting up a syndicate,
here are a few useful tips for you, whether you want to go
it alone or join in an organized syndicate such as the e-lottery
offered by Syndicateworld.
Gather
your syndicate members together and decide on your weekly
budget. One or more of the members may wish to spend more
than the others, in which case they can buy double or treble
entries and receive a double or treble share of any winnings.
Decide
on a manager – obviously someone reliable, well-organized
and trustworthy! He or she will be responsible for collecting
the ticket stake and buying the tickets. Do remember that
tickets will be purchased in the manager's name and you are
completely reliant on him/her to pay out your winnings –
so choose wisely!
Draw
up a syndicate agreement and have it signed and dated by each
member. Syndicate agreements can be downloaded from most lottery
sites and although they sadly won't help you if your syndicate
manager was last seen boarding a flight to Rio with your winnings,
they are a useful safeguard as they set down the terms of
your agreement in writing. They are also useful inasmuch as
they allow players to stipulate what is to happen to their
share of any winnings in the case of death. Is the share of
the deceased to be equally shared between the remaining members
or to be passed to his/her estate?
A
crucial point to note here is that if an agreement can be
shown to have been signed before the win, the prize will be
free of Inheritance Tax as the law currently stands.
The
agreement should also include the syndicate policy for what
is to happen if a member does not pay their ticket stake on
time. Will they forfeit any winnings, or is there to be a
period of grace?
How
much notice should each member give to leave the syndicate?
What is the group policy on publicity in the case of a major
win? This can be a major bone of contention if not agreed
beforehand with some members wanting their 15 minutes of fame
and their photo in the papers and others preferring to remain
completely anonymous, some not even wanting their nearest
and dearest to know they've hit the jackpot!
These
are all factors which need to be discussed and agreed at the
outset to avoid any problems later on.
You
then need to agree the numbers you're going to play, preferably
the same ones each week to make life easier for the syndicate
manager! It's a good idea to print out a copy of the numbers
for each player to allow them to check more easily.
Rather
than paying weekly, if the players are in agreement it's better
to pay every 4, or even 8 weeks and place the entries in advance.
Of course, great care must be taken in this case as any small
mistake would be carried forward for the whole period, not
just one single draw.
Hold
regular meetings with the syndicate members to give them chance
to put forward any changes they would like to see with the
numbers, payment methods etc.
There's
no getting away from the fact that running a syndicate can
be quite a lot of work and responsibility for the manager
but there is another alternative – a managed lottery
syndicate such as the E-lottery offered by Syndicateworld.
This is a large organisation where everything is taken care
of for you and you enjoy all the fun and benefits of syndicate
play but without any of the work. But whichever method you
choose, your winning odds are greatly improved by syndicate
play.
David
Masters, Director http://www.syndicateworld.com
Article
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