Either playing at local retailers or at one of the online lottery sites, you already came across the lottery syndicates. They are especially useful for those who play online, from the comfort of their homes, who can multiply their odds of winning while reducing the total cost. In order to participate in that type of group play, you need to first learn what a lottery syndicate is.
Quick Jump
- What Are Lottery Syndicates?
- Types of Lottery Syndicates
- How to Play in Lottery Syndicates Online?
- Best Lottery Sites for Group Play and Lottery Pools
- Real Stories of Lottery Syndicate Winners
- Lottery Syndicates that Did Not Work and Why
- How to Be Safe in Lottery Group Play?
- Should You Participate in Lottery Syndicates and Online Lottery Pools?
- Conclusion
- FAQs
What Are Lottery Syndicates?
A lottery syndicate or lottery pool is a group formed by players who are interested in improving their odds of winning a prize. That is possible because the syndicate purchases many tickets, from a few dozen to hundreds of them. With more tickets through a lottery pool, your chances are multiplied by their number. Since there are more people in that group play, the total cost is divided, which means that you end up paying just a tiny part of the total amount.
What Are Lottery Lines?
Each lottery syndicate line can also be called a ticket, or a block. Basically, each selection of numbers is a line. If the syndicate has 80 lines, that means you are playing with 80 different combinations of numbers or tickets.
What Are Total Shares?
In order to establish some sort of control, group play tends to be limited to a certain number of shares. Therefore, if a lottery syndicate has 100 shares, that means that the maximum number of participants is 100. Aside from the control, it can also help you figure out how much of the prize you will receive.
Using the same example of 100 shares, you know that the prize will be divided by 100 – if all the shares are sold. Therefore, a Powerball jackpot of $35 million would result in the following prize per share:
Therefore, if you have purchased 3 shares of that lucky lottery syndicate, you would have the right to claim $1,050,000 before taxes.
Odds of Winning
It should be clear by now that playing in lottery syndicates online is an easy form of improving your odds of winning a prize. In order to explain it with numbers, take the odds of playing Euromillions as an example. In order to win the hypothetical jackpot of €40 million, you would need to beat the odds of 1 in 139,838,160. Tough one, isn’t it?
Well, consider that you decided to play that internationally famous game using the LottoAgent website that we recommend. In there, you find a 150 shares syndicate of 100 lines for $6.25.
How will your odds change, you may ask. Basically, paying not much more than the price of a single ticket with odds of 1 in 139.8 million, you would have the following odds:
- 100 in 139.8 million OR 1 in 1.3 million
In other words, you would have more than two times the odds of winning the secondary prize of only €30,000, taking home €266,666 for every share that you purchase. That is the power of lottery syndicates over the odds.
Types of Lottery Syndicates
Not all lottery syndicates are created equal, although they will all benefit you if you are willing to share the prize in exchange for better odds. Still, understanding how each lottery syndicate works can be an advantage when purchasing your shares.
- One Number Guarantee – All the available lines together cover all the possible numbers. Therefore, at least one number will be matched in any possibility.
- One Additional Guarantee – The lines are designed to cover all the possible additional numbers. That means you will match the additional numbers at least once.
- 7-14 Guarantee – The numbers are chosen randomly, but the maximum possible permutations of the numbers from 7 to 14 are guaranteed.
- Random Pick – All the numbers in the lines are completely random, which is the most common type of lottery syndicate.
How to Play in Lottery Syndicates Online?
When you access some of the lottery sites that we have reviewed and now recommend, you will have access to online lottery group play. Then, it is not difficult to understand how to play in lottery syndicates, but some details should be explained for new players.
Do You Need to Register a Lottery Syndicate?
It is not necessary to register a lottery syndicate, as the online lottery sites take that responsibility and offer the opportunity to play in one of your choice that they have already installed. All the participants are anonymous. If you want relatives or friends to play with you, they only need to register on the same website and choose the same group.
How to Enter a Lottery Syndicate or Lottery Pool?
- Choose one of the best lottery sites that we recommend here. You can check in their reviews if they offer syndicates.
- Register an account, which should take you less than a minute, and do not forget to confirm your email.
- You can go straight to the “Syndicates” page and choose one of the groups. Push the “Play” button or a similar one to add it to your cart.
- In the checkout, you can pay exactly the amount you owe for that play unless it is less than the minimum deposit amount. You can always do the opposite and deposit first, as you wish.
- Confirm the payment to complete your participation.
Who Can Participate?
Similar to the participation in individual lottery games, it is necessary to be at least 18 years old to be compliant with the rules of the websites that offer them. However, you should also pay attention to your local legislation connected to gambling, as some countries might require that you are up to at least 21.
Also, you can only play the lottery online from your country if it is not listed among the “Restricted Countries” of the chosen lottery website. If you have more questions, check out our content about who can play the lottery online.
What Happens If Your Lottery Syndicate Wins?
If your lottery syndicate wins, you have the right to receive your share of the prize, regardless of it being a jackpot or secondary prize. Remember that the disclosed amount can suffer the reduction of taxes and fees – if applicable. You do not have to claim the prize but rather check your account or email for instructions on claiming the prize.
Syndicates tend to be offered by lottery betting sites, which means that they are responsible for the payment made possible via insurance. Therefore, unless you have played on a lottery agent website, there will be no need to travel to another country to claim your prize.
How Are Winnings Divided in a Lotto Syndicate?
The winnings of all prize tiers, from the smallest payment to the jackpot, are all accrued and equally divided among the available shares. The bigger the number of shares, the more divided the prize will be. Therefore, the best strategy is to find the perfect balance between lines, shares, and the total cost.
Best Lottery Sites for Group Play and Lottery Pools
The websites reviewed here at LotteryTexts have been checked for security, payment methods, bonuses, discounts, and support. On this page, we will recommend three of them to play best lottery syndicates of your favorite games. Remember that you can always register an account on every website that you want to try them all:
- theLotter – The most recommended and popular lottery website offers syndicates in a less obvious way. Instead of a section of its own on the menu, players will find the “Syndicate” option when they open one of the lottery games. Take the screenshot for the Mega Millions syndicate as an example:
- LottoAgent – LottoAgent has a specific page where you can see all the syndicates together, which is a plus in user experience. You can filter them by price, rating, country, odds, and even jackpot amount. Some of the participating games include Powerball, Mega Millions, Euromillions, EuroJackpot, La Primitiva, OZ Lotto, and Lotto 6aus49.
- WinTrillions – There are around 15 different syndicates for single games and even combinations of them in a real syndicate bundle. Prizes up to hundreds of millions of dollars or euros are available for those willing to play on WinTrillions.
Online vs. Offline Lottery Group Play
Group play was not created with online lotteries, and it is often a popular alternative for people who want to improve their odds playing at local retailers. In those cases, people who know each other get together to assemble numbers and share the cost. Another possibility is that the local operators or retailers create syndicates of their own.
While offline lottery syndicates will remain an option, they do not count with the best advantages of playing online lottery syndicates:
- Play from anywhere with an internet connection.
- Enjoy syndicates from other countries and never be limited to local lotteries.
- Discounts and bundles are not found anywhere else.
- Great variety of payment methods.
- 24/7 support.
- No need to go claim your prizes.
- Safety when playing on regulated and licensed websites.
Of course, the decision is up to you, but the advantages of online lottery syndicates make it clear that there is no fair comparison between them.
Real Stories of Lottery Syndicate Winners
Aside from the data found on our lottery site reviews about winners, we know that real stories of lottery syndicate winners can be an inspiration. Read some of them and understand that a little bit of money can be converted into a huge prize with better odds.
$1.05 Billion Mega Millions Jackpot
One of the record prizes ever paid by a US lottery was $1.05 billion on January 22, 2021. The winners of that huge prize compose a 4-members only syndicate from a Michigan lottery club named the Wolverine FLL Club. As a result, the group took home $557 million after taxes and as a lump-sum payment.
Source: cbsnews.com
$731.1 Million Powerball Syndicate
The syndicate who won an outstanding Powerball jackpot of $731.1 million remained anonymous but named themselves “The Power Pack”. In total, the four players divided $366.6 million after taxes and as a lump-sum payment. The one who checked the lottery results online could not believe it and even went to work that day. It took them a while to claim it, but they finally did it four months after the drawing on January 20, 2021.
Source: baltimore.cbslocal.com
$516 Million Mega Millions Syndicate
Peace of Mind Trust is the syndicate of five people who shared $254.2 Million after taxes and the natural deduction for lump-sum payments. The winners are from small communities in Pennsylvania and ensured to keep their anonymity and normalcy in their lives after claiming their prize from the drawing on May 21, 2021.
Source: megamillions.com
Lottery Syndicates that Did Not Work and Why
One of the main advantages of playing syndicate lotteries on the websites that we recommend is that your money is safe. However, not everyone made that smart choice, and some sad cases of unhappy endings occurred:
- Louisa Whitby – This unfortunate almost-winner was absent from her work one day, which was when the syndicate payments were collected. That resulted in missing her £2.5m share, which increased the total prize of everyone else by £300,000. Had she played online, she could have done that from her home, even when sick.
- Gary Baron – This particular case is much different than Louisa’s, as the winner of the Australian Powerball jackpot of $16.6 million thanks to a syndicate he built with his work colleagues. He even received the bottle of champagne sent by the lottery company delivered by one of his colleagues. He kept saying that his winnings were a result of a separate ticket, but that story resulted in legal proceedings and he ended up sharing the prize.
- Americo Lopes – Americo matched the numbers of a Mega Millions jackpot of $24 million back in 2009. He had quit his job claiming a foot surgery, which would be all right for keeping anonymity, had he not won thanks to a syndicate with five other people from his work. In court, he was found guilty of fraud and paid his colleagues. He had even claimed unemployment benefits, proving his lack of character.
How to Be Safe in Lottery Group Play?
When organizing and playing lottery syndicates with people you know, it is always a risky matter of trust. Therefore, in order to be safe, the best alternative still is choosing a reputable website in which you can trust your money and prize. For now, you can understand how we review the sites here and even choose one of those that we have marked as safe.
Should You Participate in Lottery Syndicates and Online Lottery Pools?
The choice between playing the lottery alone or joining a syndicate is entirely personal. At this point, you are aware of the characteristics, implications, and advantages of a lottery syndicate, especially when playing online. If you want to improve your odds and do not mind sharing the prize, it is an excellent opportunity.
If otherwise, if winning hundreds of millions alone is your dream, then you might have to be extra lucky or invest a lot of money in more tickets to improve your odds.
Conclusion
Lottery syndicates are an excellent and extremely cheap way of having better odds of winning the lottery. In fact, the chances of winning improve several times, and the price remains close to the cost of a single ticket. In exchange, you will have to share your prize. In the case of a jackpot, that will still result in an impressive amount for a fairly cheap ticket.
There are many cases of success, even with small syndicates, and the cases in which it went wrong were not played online. Therefore, for your comfort and safety, the best recommendation remains to play online. It is also okay if you prefer to play alone, as you will find good discounts on the lottery sites.
