LOTTERY SYNDICATE
Top 26 Questions Answered
Don’t want to play lotto online alone? Remember that you can always team up using a syndicate for an increased chance of winning! This article answers the top 26 questions frequently asked about playing the lottery in syndicates. Let’s get started!
Don't forget to also check out the best online lottery sites in India!
1. What Is a Lottery Syndicate?
A lottery syndicate is a group of players participating in one or more lottery draws together. Each player pools in money to buy tickets. The group then splits the prize money proportionally to their contribution if a win is registered. Since the cost is shared, a lottery syndicate can afford to buy more tickets than an individual player. More the players, better the chances of winning.
2. Where Can I Find One?
The Internet offers several lottery websites that allow Indian players to place syndicate bets on their favorite world lottos. However, not all of them are trustworthy and not all of them have as good syndicate options. If you want to play the lotto online in a group, we have sorted some of the best lottery syndicates to join in 2023.
Also read: Which Is the Biggest Lottery in the World?
3. Is It Legal in India?
Except for West Bengal, international lotteries haven’t been banned in India. Therefore, syndicate betting on them, too, is legal. However, the same cannot be said about Indian government lotteries whose legality widely varies depending on the state you reside in.
Also read: Is Online Lottery Legal in India?
4. Is It Safe?
Playing online, a syndicated lottery bet is only as safe as you want it to be. Firstly, you have to make sure you’re playing at a legit site so you don’t get swindled out of your money. Secondly, you have to be extra cautious if you are using public WiFi so you don’t end up on a hacker’s list of targets. Thirdly, never share your login credentials or banking details with a fellow syndicate member.
Other than that, playing the lottery in syndicates is as safe as playing it as an individual player. Trusted lotto sites ensure the results are never rigged and each winner gets his share. The terms and conditions are clear so there is no misunderstanding among the participants regarding placing of bets or claiming the prize.
5. What Are the Types of Lottery Syndicates?
The two main types of lottery syndicates are as follows:
Public
A public lottery syndicate is the standard form of syndicate betting where participants are not known to each other. Playing online, the lottery site conveniently brings players together for one or more draws and handles the payouts whenever a win is recorded.
Private
A private lottery syndicate is often a close-knit group of family members, friends, colleagues, and other people you know who pool in money to enter a draw together. Here, you as a group have the responsibility to make sure winnings are split evenly if you win.
6. Can You Play Syndicates Online?
Yes, you can play syndicates online. The Internet has made it possible for Indian players to not only participate in world lotteries, but also join online lottery syndicates from the comfort of their homes. All you need to do is register with a lottery site that sells tickets to your favorite lotto and enables syndicate betting as well.
7. Are All Online Syndicates the Same?
The concept is the same. You buy one or several shares into a pool of tickets that the lottery site is buying for you. The number of shares for each syndicate are limited whereas the ticket pool can be anything from 50 to 200 lines being played.
However, the value of a syndicate can vary greatly as most lottery sites have a profit margin for offering the service. In other words, the price you would pay for a syndicate entry would be increased compared to just buying an individual ticket (even if your expected return would be the same).
Check the below table to find out what the different profit margins are between different lottery sites.
| Lottery Site | Syndicate Margin | Player Value |
|---|---|---|
| Lottofy | 0% – 15% | Very High |
| Lottoland | 20% – 50% | High |
| LottoAgent | 70% – 100% | Moderate |
| TheLotter | 100% | Moderate |
| Giantlottos | 200% | Low |
| LottoKings | 85% – 400% | Low |
| Lottogo | 500% | Very Low |
8. How to Run a Lottery Syndicate?
The rules of running a lottery syndicate can be summarized in the following 3 pointers:
– Set Up Your Dream Team
As discussed earlier, a syndicate can be formed of family, friends, coworkers, and even strangers willing to pool in money. Pick your poison and recruit your team. But make sure you gather the right people. Also, remember that taking the initiative will make you the manager of that particular lotto syndicate.
– Put an Agreement in Place
Before you jump onto the syndicate bandwagon, it is important that you get organized and agree on how your team should function. There is no hard and fast rule to this. However, all of the members must agree to certain guidelines that will keep disagreements and confusion at bay.
Firstly, pick the lottery all of you wish to play. Different players might have different preferences. Secondly, decide who would spend how much. Your spendings will decide your share in the prize money if you win. The next decision should be about who would choose what numbers. Imagine two or more people choosing the same numbers; it defeats the very purpose of a syndicate.
Put all these clauses in a syndicate agreement and add a few special clauses, too. For instance, there should be a clause for when to collect winnings as most of the time you may want to re-invest your winnings into new tickets. Also, what happens if a member fails to pay? Include the process of exiting the syndicate into the agreement.
Don’t forget to keep a record of your expenditures and chosen numbers to ease up the process of claiming the prize if a win is registered.
– Follow Up and Update
Once a lottery draw is over, someone from the team must check the winning numbers. If a win is registered, the prize money should be re-invested or divided based on each syndicate member's share.
Running a lottery syndicate should be smooth sailing if all syndicate members are in agreement with each other and the terms are clear. However, more often than not confusions and disagreements crop up. This issue can be avoided by playing lottery syndicates online.
Sites that act as a gateway to world lotteries set up and manage the syndicates. They pre-purchase all the lines and put shares on sale. In this way, you don’t have to keep track of anything. It's very convenient.
All players who buy shares are served proof of purchase. In case of a win, the site operators notify all the players and pay the winnings into their online accounts proportionally. All a player needs to do is decide which syndicate to join and how many shares to purchase.
Of course, you need to find legit lottery sites that also act as syndicate managers. Don’t fret because we have already sorted them out for you on top of this page.
9. How to Join a Syndicate Lottery Online?
If you want to join a syndicate lottery online, follow these 7 simple steps:
- Register with or log into your favorite lottery site online.
- Select the lottery syndicate you wish to play.
- Choose the number of shares you want.
- Decide on the duration for which you wish to be part of the syndicate.
- Add the shares to your cart.
- Proceed to checkout and make the payment.
- Wait for the draw to take place and find out if you won.
10. What Happens When a Syndicate Wins the Lottery?
When a syndicate wins the lottery, the prizes are paid to the syndicate manager, who, in turn, has to take up the responsibility to hand out the winnings to his team members. In case you are playing the syndicate online, the lottery site will act as the manager and hand out the winnings.
Each member receives a share of the prize proportionate to the shares purchased individually. Players can also choose to reinvest their winnings in future draws depending on what is stated in the syndicate agreement.
11. Has a Syndicate Ever Won the Lottery?
Several syndicates have won various international lotteries in the past. This shouldn't come as a surprise as Syndicates, with their many tickets, have a higher chance of winning a lottery than an individual player. If you look for winner stories online, you would most likely come across the following honorable mentions:
- $1.05 billion Mega Millions jackpot won by Wolverine FLL Club of Michigan (4-member syndicate) on 22 January 2021
- $437 million Mega Millions jackpot won by New Life 2019 LLC of New York (lottery syndicate of 23 coworkers) on 1 January 2019
- €175.4 EuroMillions jackpot won by a Dublin family (9 siblings) on 19 February 2019
- $420.9m US Powerball jackpot won by a syndicate of 20 co-workers from Tennessee on 26 November 2016
- £500,000 Thunderball jackpot won by WGCJ Family Syndicate of Durham (4-member syndicate) on 28 May 2016
12. Who Is the Biggest Syndicate Winner in India?
The biggest syndicate winner in India is Dsreenu Sreedharan Nair, a technical worker from Chengannur, India. On 3rd November 2019 he and his team won a whopping Dh15 million (roughly ₹28 crores) on the Big Ticket Series 209 Lottery.
His winning number was 098165. The ticket cost him Dh25 of the total Dh500, which he bought along with 21 colleagues as part of a worker’s pool. Once the prize was split, each winner received around ₹1.3 crore.
13. How Often Do Syndicates Win the Lottery?
By splitting the cost of tickets and entering the draw together, a syndicate enjoys better chances of winning the bigger prizes. Therefore, it would be safe to say that syndicates win the lottery more often than not and certainly more often than individual players.
As mentioned above, some of the biggest lotteries in the world have been won by syndicate players. Syndicates call dibs on 1 in every 5 jackpots of top lottos such as EuroMillions, EuroJackpot, Mega Millions, and the likes.
This is why of all strategies and tricks to win the lottery – be it choosing lucky numbers, banking on birthdays and unique formulas, or following a pattern of winning numbers – the most worthwhile is playing in a syndicate.
Also read: Top 10 Keys to Winning the Lottery
14. How to Claim Syndicate Lottery Winnings?
The process of claiming syndicate lottery winnings would depend on what is mentioned in the agreement. Usually, the syndicate manager is responsible for handing out the winnings. However, in the case of online syndicates of lottery, the sites will do the job. The players do not need to claim the winnings separately.
15. Does a Lottery Syndicate Need to Be Registered?
A lottery syndicate does not need to be registered. However, the syndicate manager needs to register himself as a player. In case you are playing it online, there wouldn’t be any need for registration since the lottery site would act as the syndicate manager.
16. What Does a Syndicate Manager Do?
A syndicate manager is responsible for the following tasks:
- Setting up the team
- Putting the syndicate agreement in place
- Collecting the pooled-in money
- Buying entries with the fund
- Checking results
- Keeping all members updated
- Paying winners
17. Which Is the Best Online Lottery for Syndicates?
Based on win chance, EuroMillions is one of the best lotteries for syndicates. This is because the jackpot has a cap and when the cap is reached, it is eventually paid out as a 2nd prize instead of 1st. However, for the biggest winnings, the US Powerball takes the cake. This lottery has a record win of ₹11,200 Crores.
Below is a list of the top 3 lotto sites that let you enter Powerball syndicates. For easy comparison, we have also mentioned the number of lines and shares you can purchase as well as with the cost per share.
| Syndicate | Lotto site | Combined Lines | Shares | Cost Per Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Powerball Smile | Lottoland | 105 | 100 | ₹400 |
| Sapno Ki Udaan | Lottoland | 203 | 150 | ₹550 |
| Power Ka Dum | Lottoland | 1008 | 300 | ₹1500 |
| Powerball Syndicate | Lottofy | 120 | 40 | ₹592 |
| 200 Lines | theLotter | 200 | 144 | ₹1,038.11 |
| 65 Lines | theLotter | 65 | 56 | ₹867.56 |
18. Is There Any Lottery Syndicate App?
Several legit lottery sites that enable syndicate betting also offer mobile apps. You can play your favorite lottery in groups at your convenience anywhere. The best lottery syndicate apps have been listed below.
19. Is It Worth Joining a Lottery Syndicate?
Many people would say so, yes, but it all depends. The highlight, of course, is having better chances of winning. You spend the same amount of money as you would playing individually, but you get more tickets.
Playing the lottery in a syndicate can also be more fun in the sense that you do it with your friends, family, or co-workers, which makes it a social experience. Most things in life are more fulfilling to do in groups.
On the downside, someone has to manage the syndicate, which is a bit of work. Unless you're playing online and enter a public syndicate network where the lotto site handles everything that is. But then you lose the social aspect.
At the end of the day, what usually matters are the increased win chances. If you want to heavily increase your chances of winning the lottery at the cost of receiving a bit less when you win, then yes, joining a syndicate is definitely worth it.
20. What Is Better: Playing as an Individual or in Syndicates?
If you have a limited budget and want to win, playing the lottery in syndicates is always better than playing it as an individual. Here's an easy example:
- You buy 100 entries into a lottery at a cost of ₹30,000
- You buy 1 share in a syndicate that pools 100 entries together, at a cost of ₹300
Whichever option you choose, the odds of winning the jackpot remain the same. However, in a syndicate, you don't have to spend a huge amount of money for those odds. Of course, when you do win in the above example, your winnings would be 1/100th of what they would if you played alone.
21. Do We Need a Syndicate Agreement?
An agreement is a must if you are playing the lottery in a syndicate. As discussed earlier, this agreement would take into consideration all the ifs and buts about collectively purchasing tickets and getting paid when you win. On online lottery sites, syndicate agreements are already in place and available for the players to view.
22. Is There a Limit to the Number of Participants or Tickets?
Most online syndicates do not put any limit on the number of participants or tickets an individual can buy. The more the merrier. You can purchase as many shares and have as many fellow players as you want. However, in some cases, there could be a limit on the number of players and shares you can buy. This is often done to prevent dilution of the prize money.
23. How to Be Sure the Tickets Have Been Purchased?
In every online lottery syndicate, the tickets or entries are bought on the behalf of the group and sold as shares to individual member players. Official tickets are either scanned and uploaded to each player’s account or, in the case of lottery betting sites, receipts of entries are stored on each player's account and might also be sent to your registered e-mail. Either way, this acts as proof of purchase to ensure you that your entry has been confirmed.
24. Do You Pay Tax on Syndicate Lottery Winnings?
In India, your syndicate lottery winnings would be taxed at a flat rate of 31.2% in the absence of a Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) with the organizer country. If the agreement is in place, you would be taxed only as per the organizer country’s taxation law.
25. Is It Possible to Stay Anonymous About a Syndicate Win?
Depending on what is mentioned in your syndicate agreement, it is possible to stay anonymous about a win or go public about it.
26. How Did Syndicates Come Into Being?
The first instance of lottery being played collectively was recorded in 18th century England. After the State lotteries, introduced in the 1690s, became expensive for the public, players started buying shares instead of full tickets.
Advertisements were put up in leading dailies by people who were looking for fellow players to share the cost. In 1798, four winners shared a prize of £20,000, which can be dubbed as the first-ever syndicate win.
The idea soon started emerging in other nations and became a phenomenon worldwide. Today, syndicate betting, especially online is a popular way of playing world lottos.
Wish to join a lotto syndicate? Check out our recommendations here!
