Bank Account for lotto winnings

ajh19742000

Hello,
I have started a lotto syndicate at work where it was agreed that the manager of syndicate (me) would collect money from members, place lines etc, collect winnings.

I wanted to set up a bank account where any small winnings would be placed for future use and the account to be named in the syndicates name. I visited HSBC today and was told that a business account would have charges attached for this purpose and the only way around it was to set up an account in my own name.
Does anybody know of a bank which would support this and have no charges attached?

Cheers
Andy

dan3811991119

Your asking for trouble if you open an account in your own name.

Hominu

You should be able to get a club account for free, but...

Did everyone fill in an agreement and sign it? Otherwise you could end up with a nightmare on your hands.

What if someone doesn't pay? Or wants to miss a week?

How are you going to prove where all the money has come from? That people have paid, etc.

What about contribution vs Share of winnings?

Have you thought about possible tax problems? Since you would be the one placing the lines, you would be the winner, and distributing the winnings between others would have to be carefully controlled and noted who has won what for tax reasons.

innovate

dan3811991119 wrote: »

Your asking for trouble if you open an account in your own name.

You are asking for trouble if you agree to become a Lottery Syndicate Manager/Treasurer.

Hope the OP got the Lottery Syndicate kit from the Lottery website, and will spit all the omissions.

innovate

Hominu wrote: »

You should be able to get a club account for free, but...

Only if the club is a charity, and then perhaps only for the first 6 months.

There is no free lunch.

Gromitt

Would inheritance tax come into this?

I mean, the winnings will be sent to a particular bank account and then transferred manually to the appropriate members, and it'll be a normal bank account, so regarded as a gift?

jonesMUFCforever

Lloyds will do a free club account where the annual turnover is less than £25k
Hominu has given good advice - get all members to sign a contract to say no pay in no win out.

I wouldn't worry about banking a big win the bank will be all over you as a rash to try and get details of the winners to open new accounts and offer advice LOL.

The_pc_tech

This is an interesting thread as I'm a member of a syndicate at work which usually just plays the euromillions when there's a rollover though a couple of folks apparently wanted to play this weeks' draw when it wasn't, I wasn't one of them as there's about 10 of us that signed the agreement, I top up a stash by sending some money to a bank account owned by the syndicate manager when it runs low (usually about 16 quid a time)

fewcloudy

Hi Andy

I am the syndicate manager for a large (40) workplace Euromillions syndicate, I started it last November. I cannot answer your question regarding a bank that would support a syndicate account as 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'm not at all worried by some of the comments others have warned about on this thread and neither should you if you get it set up correctly from the start. 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 that one so far, lol.

I don't feel at all as though I'm "asking for trouble". 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

innovate

fewcloudy, you seem to be extremely well organised and I don't want to rain on your parade - - - but is the agreement all of your syndicate signed a legally binding agreement? Have you, or any, or all of the syndicate members taken legal advice? Imagine your syndicate wins a £200m pot, and one of the members can claim it is all theirs, on a technicality not covered by your agreement. That person might even pay the rest of you, and their lawyers, a million each, and still end up laughing all the way to the bank (or to their own carribean island).

fewcloudy

Thanks innovate - I am an organised person I guess. You make a good point, one which I considered before setting up our syndicate. I followed the Syndicate advice from Camelot and communicated with them by email several times.

My belief is that the lottery has been running here for about 20 years and there are 2 draws a week and now also 2 Euromillions draws a week. I know there are often roll-overs, but there are still many Jackpot wins each year, (and many many more 100k+ wins) and over a 20 year span it equals hundreds. I am reliably informed (by Camelot!) that 1/4 of all Jackpots have been won by a syndicate therefore there must have been a great number of syndicate wins over the last 20 years, right? I believe their Syndicate advice and sample Syndicate Agreement is tried and tested, and furthermore I am sure it would be newsworthy and big gossip in workplaces around the country if the scenario you are imagining were to occur.

However, I can assure you I look forward everyday to that wonderful day when my Syndicate Agreement can be tested, God knows I do, lol!

fc