Anyone here run a lottery syndicate?

ValHaller

dazzler1009 wrote: »

......

Darren

mywebsite.com fritters.

fewcloudy

(I wrote this in response to another lottery syndicate thread on here);

I am the syndicate manager for a large (40) workplace Euromillions syndicate, I started it last November. I just opened a bank account in my name specifically for our syndicate and nothing else.

I wrote up a syndicate agreement (loosely based on the Camelot one) and wrote the rules of the syndicate. We all signed it, names, addresses, dates. Even that took weeks to complete with 40 folks to catch up with, lol!

There are 40 members in our syndicate, so no way was I ever planning to go round collecting money and chasing people up for late payments etc. Therefore the main thing is, in order to be in our syndicate you have to be prepared to set up a Standing Order for the agreed amount to go into the syndicate bank account every 4 weeks (payday). Not one of the people who expressed interest in joining a syndicate pulled out upon hearing of that condition... and after a little bit of initial confusion it has been trouble free and has eliminated the potentially tricky and time consuming issue of collecting yer dues!

I wrote the rules the way I thought was right, but one of them is that "the syndicate is run by all of us" so anyone can suggest changes and we vote on it. I think it's better to make the others feel an equal part of things, although I must say that so far they have left it all up to me which I do not mind. But someone had to start it up I guess and write the rules initially.

I stated in the agreement how we divide the winnings, when we will divide them, what to do when people leave/join, which draws etc. Member's personal banking woes are covered in as much as I asked everyone to pay 2 months dues at the start to give a bit of leeway and a reserve, haven't needed it so far. We are also all aware and agreed on the result of failing to pay up and we've signed something to that effect.

On the topic of gifts/tax, Well that's one of the many reasons you need a proper agreement signed by all. Otherwise yes, it all goes to me and I would be giving 39 people rather large cheques! But FYI, all winnings over 5k are paid out by cheque and not directly into a bank account, so when we win the biggie it will be divided up equally to each of us.

I can calculate very easily how much someone is entitled to if they leave the syndicate tomorrow, and also what share someone is entitled to who joins tomorrow, when we divi up the pot in 6 months time. One of the rules I wrote at the start was that all wins under 1k would sit in the pot till middle of December each year; anything over 1k would be paid out immediately. Not been a huge issue has that one so far, lol.

It's all good fun and has given us many laughs at work, but sadly (so far) the biggie has alluded us

Good luck

fc

Idiophreak

Only sensible way to do this is to collect a lot of cash up front, basically...So you say "syndicate is starting again next week - I need £20 from each of you for the next 10 weeks minimum" - when you've collected the money, you add their name to the agreement and that agreement runs until the kitty runs dry - then repeat.

This way you're never in the position of having to redo the agreement between payments, there's never any ambiguity about who's paid or not and if someone wants to drop out, they're welcome to, but again it won't require the agreement to be changed mid-run.

Gra76

I run our syndicate at work. I pay via DD from my own personal account and then collect the funds from the people in the syndicate through the month.

I used the standard syndicate agreement form on the lottery website but modified it slightly to be appropriate to our syndicate.

I've got a section in there that says that if an individual falls more than 3 weeks behind on payments then I will (at my own discretion) add their winnings to my own. In reality if it's a tenner I let it slide, but if it was a jackpot amount I'm not sure what I'd do. Probably have a quiet word with the offending member and collect their money before splitting the winnings between everyone. I don't think I'd want the hastle of having to say 'No' to someone who'd been paying in for years but 'forgot' to keep up to date. Besides, some of them are good friends more than colleagues.

I spend half my life asking people for money and the other half emailing reminders to people that they've fallen behind on their lottery subs. Would I do it again? Hell no....

Browntoa

Spam post 36 by bpjames

Flossie.

I hate being in charge of stuff like this.

I was way back in the late 90s. I used to collect (for a lottery syndicate,) from 6 others, and put it in a tin. One time, a fiver went missing from it, and although it wasn't me; I felt that I had to replace it (and that people thought it was me who took it!) So I informed everyone I was stopping, and someone else had to take over.

spongebob999

After old experiences I would never run a work syndicate again, its far too much hassle and you get no thanks whatsoever. Once I closed down the syndicate I was running, no one else took over running it. I have joined http://www.supersyndicate.co.uk which is a much more simple option and saves me loads of time and no more grief from people at work!

sheeds

I run a system 20 syndicate with 550 members each draw.

ozmillions.com.au

alk29

I run a small syndicate which started when we all worked together and has continued with more or less the same members even though people moved on / retired etc.

When we started we took turns to physically buy tickets however now the whole this is done online. Its much less time consuming and you never run the risk of not having a ticket (as we have fixed numbers this is important)

The template contract on the national lottery website is simple to fill out. I also added on the back the basic rules / conditions that would apply for payment, what happens if you pay late etc which I asked people to initial to say they had read and understood at the same time they signed the contract.

Most importantly people have to pay in advance. Even if it's only 1 week in advance you would stop having to put cash in for people who are absent etc

For smaller wins we originally collected the money and spent it on a christmas night out but now people have moved away from the area this isn't possible.

We spend wins either on subsidising the costs or buying tickets when there's a big Rollovers on the euromillions (if I also buy a ticket for myself I send the numbers round everybody before the draw to be clear which ticket belongs to the syndicate and which is my personal one)

whiteguineapig

spongebob999 wrote: »

After old experiences I would never run a work syndicate again, its far too much hassle and you get no thanks whatsoever. Once I closed down the syndicate I was running, no one else took over running it. I have joined http://www.supersyndicate.co.uk which is a much more simple option and saves me loads of time and no more grief from people at work!

have you ever won anything with it bob?