Wednesday, October 24, 2018
Tuesday’s Mega Millions jackpot was $1.6 billion
Associated Press
DES MOINES, Iowa
A winning ticket of Tuesday night’s record $1.6 billion Mega Millions jackpot would bear the numbers 5-28-62-65-70, with Mega Ball 5, but if you’re part of a group who partnered to buy more tickets, thus increasing your odds, an attorney says you should have taken extra precautions for a potential win.
It may have seemed like perfect sense to pool money with co-workers or friends to increase the chance of winning a giant payday. But “with this many zeros attached to it, it is a recipe for disaster,” said Rubin Sinins, the attorney for the five jilted construction workers in that 2009 case.
Sinins said such plans can turn into a protracted legal fight, hard feelings and court orders – like in the case of his clients – a group of New Jersey construction workers who noticed that the sixth member of their lottery pool had abruptly left work because, they learned, he had a lottery ticket worth $38.5 million and claimed he bought the winning ticket separately with his own money.
The other pool members eventually won a jury verdict and split the lottery winnings.
But if you venture down that road, he and other experts have some advice: Draw up an agreement.
“Document precisely who is part of the lottery pool so that there’s no misunderstanding later,” Sinins said.
Other attorneys and lottery officials agree, though they acknowledge it can seem silly to draw up agreements and copy ticket stubs given the dismal odds of actually winning. The odds for Tuesday night’s jackpot were 1 in 302.5 million, while there’s a slightly better chance – 1 in 292.2 million – of winning the $620 million Powerball prize tonight.
If there’s no winner in Tuesday night’s drawing, lottery officials said the estimated jackpot would jump again for Friday night’s drawing – to $2 billion.
Mary Neubauer, a spokeswoman for the Iowa Lottery, said the key is to put a few rules into writing. That includes details about how any prize would be divvied up, members of the group, and what should happen if a regular player is away and didn’t chip in for a specific drawing.
And always make copies of group tickets – including identifying numbers on the back of tickets – before the drawing so everyone is aware of the potential winnings numbers.
“You’re thinking about a best-case scenario of winning, but you’re taking precautions about a worst case of fighting over the winnings,” Neubauer said.
The Missouri Lottery recommends people also have a plan for notifying group members if they win, figuring out who would be the group spokesperson and maybe even decide what outsider would serve as financial planner.