People all over New York are caught in the lottery fever. You may be tempted to beat the odds by booking a ticket with a large group of people. Here’s what you should know before you do it.
The Mega Millions jackpot is well over a billion dollars at this point. Today’s drawing is worth $1.3 billion. Many New Yorkers who can legally buy a ticket are obsessed with winning the prize. The jackpot is so big that it even draws the attention of casual lottery players or people who have never bought a ticket before.
People often form groups, pool their money and buy multiple tickets at once to increase their chances of winning.
Are lottery groups legal in New York?
According to local attorney Alex Mainetti, lottery groups/pools are arguably legal in New York State if the lottery ticket is purchased legally and then an agreement is reached that if your jointly purchased entry wins, you will split the winnings. I think that’s perfectly legal.
Do you need a written agreement?
“I would not participate in a lottery syndicate without having a written agreement setting out the terms of the agreement. Ambiguities in agreements are mostly at the root of all contractual disputes. Also, participants in the community should document their ticket purchases (e.g. “I bought ticket X on day Y for Z dollars with a photocopy of the ticket and clearly stated that you intend to enter this ticket into the pool.” Also taxation of winnings should be clarified in the agreement.” – Alex Mainetti , Mainetti & Mainetti
What if the ticket holder in your group decides not to share the winnings with you?
“If one participant in the pool won the lottery and then refused to pass the money owed on to the other participants, they could definitely sue. The lawsuit would be for breach of contract, meaning that the winner breached the terms of the lottery pool agreement and failed to pay each member their rightfully owed percentage of the winnings. If the member(s) won the lawsuit against the lottery winner, they could enforce the judgment against the lottery winner. They could potentially try to forfeit property, forfeit wages, confiscate assets, etc. It can get pretty ugly if you go down that route.
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