Join a Lottery Group to Boost Your Powerball Chances
Although there are many theories about how you can improve your chances of winning Powerball, the only way to guarantee better odds is to buy more lines. However, this is not always possible for individuals working on a budget, but a lottery group, sometimes called a lottery pool or lottery syndicate, allows you to enjoy the benefit of playing multiple lines at an affordable price, as a team of Minnesota co-workers discovered this week.
Minnesota Lottery Group Winners
A pool of 22 colleagues from the St Louis County Courthouse in Hibbing, Minnesota were celebrating on Thursday morning after matching four main numbers in Wednesday’s Powerball drawing.
Although the regular Match 4 reward is $50,000, the group had added the Power Play multiplier to their entry when they bought their tickets at the Hibbing Short Stop II, across the street from their place of work. As Power Play 5 was randomly selected before the draw, the courthouse workers will share $250,000, which works out at around $7,500 each after taxes.
The winners will now charter a bus to collect their prize from Minnesota Lottery headquarters in Roseville together.
How Lottery Groups Work
Lottery groups like the courthouse co-workers band together to share the cost of multiple lines. Syndicates can play far more Powerball lines than is possible for most individuals and, in fact, each member’s contribution may be as little as $2, the price of a basic single ticket, but they have all the group’s lines playing on their behalf in the draw.
Of course, this means that you have to split the winnings, but you can collect some large sums, and a share of a big Powerball jackpot could still make you a multimillionaire.
Forming a Lottery Group
If you want to create a lottery pool between friends, family members or co-workers, you should take the time to lay down some basic rules for what happens if someone doesn’t pay their fees, someone leaves or there is any kind of dispute. You should also decide on the numbers you will play, or agree to always use Quick Picks, and it would be helpful to decide in advance whether the group would opt for the cash or the annuity payout if you win the jackpot.
One member should be appointed the lottery group manager, who is responsible for enforcing the rules. You should also decide who will buy the tickets, check the winning lines and collect the prizes. The Hibbing pool used a system where the name of one member was randomly selected before a draw, and they were charged with purchasing the entries.
All of these decisions should be written down in a lottery pool agreement and signed by all participants.
Powerball Jackpot
Whether you play on your own or as part of a lottery group, your next chance for Powerball glory comes on Saturday night, when the jackpot is worth $50 million.
Page Last Updated: 11/15/2018 5:32:06 AM ET
