Max Your Odds But Not Your Wager – All You Need to Know About Lottery Syndicates

Over the past several years, online lottery syndicates have increased in popularity, with a Google search for the term coming up with over 400,000 hits. It’s a great big world out there, with all sorts of lotto winnings waiting for the right people, and if you choose to participate you could be one of them. It’s only a small fee that is involved when playing the lottery and you can literally make your dreams come true, before you know it, you can be relaxing on your yacht in the Mediterranean.

What is a lottery syndicate?

You may already be familiar with the idea of pooling your money together with friends, family, or coworkers to purchase multiple tickets for different lotteries to increase your chances of winning a prize. That’s basically what a lottery syndicate is – a group of people buying tickets together. Many online lottery websites refer to this as “group play”, as the term “syndicate” can have negative connotations to some. It shouldn’t though, as a lottery syndicate essentially is for the people in the group and there are no negative connotations and absolutely nothing illegal at all about joining this type of syndicate. The biggest difference is that this form of group play is online, and allows participants to buy tickets from lotteries that they may not have access to if they’re purchasing in the local grocer’s store.

What are the benefits of an online lottery syndicate?

When you purchase lottery tickets on your own, you’re limited to the games you can access at that particular store, plus the odds of the one or two tickets that you’ve picked up. You don’t have the opportunity to explore many lottery games with differing odds, and you’re limited to the base odds of winning the games you’re playing. If the particular game you’re purchasing for has odds of 1 in 600 million and you just purchase two tickets, your odds still suck. Pooling your money together increases your odds of winning the lottery dramatically.

A lottery syndicate allows you to pool your money with that of a group of others to purchase more tickets, as that group, and increase your odds of winning by a rather large percentage. Games with lower jackpots will have better chances, of course, and it can take a little calculating to get the most out of your costs. Overall, it’s actually cheaper to purchase online lottery tickets as part of a syndicate than it is to buy them on your own, for single plays.

How does an online lottery syndicate work?

There are a few common ways that group play can work when it’s based online. Some online lottery syndicates work on a monthly subscription basis, where you pay a monthly fee, select the games you’re interested in, and are then placed in appropriate groupings. You can cancel your subscription at any time. Your lottery numbers are delivered to you via e-mail or on the site. When a prize is won, the total jackpot is split equally between everyone in the syndicate. Some travel may be involved – more on that later.

Others require you to download a syndicated package and follow the instructions, or to sign up in a store (those ones are attached to specific lottery corporations). Another way that you can participate is to pay to participate in a certain number of draws (for example, 8 draws of EuroMillions) – it is then up to you to add more draws at a later date if you decide that you want to keep playing.

What rules do online lottery syndicates need to follow?

That depends entirely upon the host country and is generally down to a difference in the age at which someone is allowed to purchase tickets. For lottery players in Austria, Belgium, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland, someone purchasing online lottery tickets must be at least 18; UK citizens must be 16. Canadian citizens must be 19, unless in Quebec where the age is 18. In the United States, the age may vary from state-to-state, with the average being 21.

Rules that apply to casino game play do not apply to lottery games, with some lotteries being unavailable to people in certain countries or outside the game’s home country. Always check the FAQ page (frequently asked questions) for your preferred retailer, and the gambling rules for your particular country.

How does a winner collect their prize?

Again, that depends upon the lottery carrier. Some online lottery websites are willing to pay for your travel to the host country so that you can collect your prize money in person, while others will collect it on your behalf and distribute to everyone in the syndicate. Some websites will deposit the money directly to your bank card or bank account, and the money can then be used for further lottery purchases or for your own needs.

Online lotto sites try to make it as easy as possible for you to collect your winnings, and it’s in their best interests to do so. After all, how many people would keep using those sites if getting the money they won was a difficult task? Not nearly as many!

How can I pay?

Most lotto sites prefer that you pay for your online lottery syndicate tickets from your bank account, bank card, or a major credit card. Some accept other forms of payment such as Skrill, Neteller, and uKash.

Overall: online lottery syndicates are simply better value for your money

Stop buying a ticket here or a ticket there. Enrol in an online lottery syndicate and get more value for what you’re paying – you increase your odds, save money on the number of tickets that you’re buying, and you can very much just set it and forget it. No more trips to the store, waiting in line or losing slips of paper that could stand between you and your winnings. After all, if you lose your paper ticket, you can’t get your money – that’s not an issue when you’re buying online. You don’t have to worry about figuring out who pays what, either, or chasing anybody for money like you would with a traditional group play set-up (nor do you have to keep track of all those tickets and deciding who gets what as far as winnings go).

Whether you pick a subscription, purchase a set number of draws, or just add to the pot every so often as your funds allow, going with an online lottery syndicate is simply the better way. Having access to multiple lotteries with varying jackpots certainly helps. You never know, you could get very lucky.