What is lottery syndicate

A lottery syndicate is in essence a means of pooling your lottery entry with a number of other lottery players.


Pooling your entry or 'joining a syndicate' has a number benefits and, of course, drawbacks for the syndicate member.

Lottery syndicates are very common throughout the world and can very often be found within workplaces, clubs, charities and indeed, families.

So what are the benefits and drawbacks?

The main benefit, and the reason most people join lottery syndicates, is that the odds of winning a prize are reduced, often dramatically. You can work out the odds by taking the number of lottery tickets purchased by the syndicate and multiplying it by the published figures from the lottery organiser, for example:

A lottery syndicate has 10 members and the syndicate purchases 20 lottery tickets.

The lottery organiser in this example published the odds of a jackpot win as 1 in 1,000,000 or 1,000,000 to 1.

If we take the number of tickets purchased (20) and calculate the new odds, we will arrive at a figure of 20 in 1,000,000 or 1,000,000 to 20 otherwise expressed as 1 to 50,000 or even as a 2000% better chance of winning the jackpot.

The downsides of playing in a syndicate are that, in the first instance, you will have to share the winnings with the other members of the syndicate, if the win is relatively small, this may, potentially, not even cover the cost of the syndicate membership, if, on the other hand, the syndicate lands the jackpot of say 5 million then each member of our example syndicate will win 1 tenth of the prize, in this case 500,000.

Depending on how the syndicate operates, it may be that you cannot choose your own lottery numbers. Where the syndicate uses mathematical rules, this is often the case.

The upside of playing in a syndicate is that you stand more chances of winning and winning more often, although, on the whole, you'll find that the prizes are smaller due to the fact that you are sharing all prizes with your fellow members.

Lottery syndicates are not for everyone, some people prefer to chance their luck rather than play the 'mathematical' game. Finding a good, well organised, syndicate is not always easy. Consider the organiser, the level of trust and their ability to always remember to purchase tickets on behalf of the syndicate, it sounds a little daft, but it would not be the first time a syndicate thought they'd won a large sum only to find that the entries were not placed.

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