The logic seems sound: The more lottery tickets you buy, the better your odds of striking it rich.
So when the Mega Millions jackpot hit a record $540 million Thursday, it was only natural for some Houstonians to pool their resources with friends and colleagues to buy as many tickets as possible. After all, there are plenty of millions to go around. The more the merrier.
Gary Grief, executive director of Texas Lottery Commission, said he encourages pools, provided that, as with all lottery wagering, they are conducted responsibly.
"My advice is to formalize those agreements unless you are dealing with people you completely trust - and trust, potentially, with hundreds of millions," said Grief, who also serves as lead director of Mega Millions.
Six construction workers in New Jersey learned that lesson the hard way.
The co-workers had pooled their money for years to play the lotto. They relied on one member of their group, Americo Lopes, to purchase the tickets. In November 2009, one of the tickets he bought hit the $38.5 million jackpot. Lopes cashed it without telling his co-workers, and walked away with more than $17 million in one lump sum after taxes.
Lopes later claimed he bought the winning ticket with his own money, not funds collected from the group, but on March 14 a Union County jury ruled that he had cheated his co-workers out of their fair shares. The jury ordered Lopes to share the jackpot.
"Money can make people do some really funny things," said Joseph Gagnon, a Houston attorney who specializes in management, labor and employment matters.
There is nothing illegal about office pools to buy lotto tickets because lotteries are sanctioned by the government, Gagnon said. But he recommended using common sense and caution.
Make copies
It's a good idea to make copies of tickets and distribute them to pool participants before the drawing, Gagnon said. That way, everyone knows what the numbers are. People also can sign a written agreement naming the participants in the pool, how much they're going to contribute, and how the group will divide the proceeds if they win.
"You never think about these things until after you won," Gagnon said. "That's the problem, and that's what makes the litigation necessary."
Even if everyone in a winning pool is trustworthy, what happens to the unlucky folks in the office who didn't join in?
In 1997, almost half the staff in the Dallas County public defender's office won a $45 million jackpot. Twenty-three co-workers received $56,000 a year for 25 years after taxes.
The other half of the office got nothing, including lawyer John McLauchlan.
"The first couple days after it happened, my stomach hurt," he told the Chronicle at the time.
Texas has participated in Mega Millions for about 10 years, and has had eight jackpot winners. The biggest haul - $144 million - went to William Kiefer of Katy in January 2010.
The drawing for the current $540 billion jackpot is Friday evening.
