The Best Australian Lottery Guide You Will Ever Read!

Sometimes, it seems like everywhere you turn, you get bombarded with American and European lotteries; Mega Millions this, US Powerball that, EuroMillions there. And while these lotteries are indeed the three rulers of the lottery world, it’s time to look elsewhere for a moment as we take an in-depth look at what Australia has to offer us. For instance, did you know that Australia has a lottery draw on almost every day of the week, and that winning odds are much better Down Under? Let’s have a look at the Australian lotteries offered on theLotter!

Australian Lotteries – an Abridged History

The Grand Lottery was created in Australia with the guidance and support of the Tasmanian government in 1895. However, it wasn’t until the 30’s that the lotteries began to demand bigger interest in lieu of the economic crisis. The Lotter Act was proclaimed in 1931, and the first draw happened on August 20th of that year. It would be three quarters of a century before the first television broadcast would take place – on June 24th, 1972. The jackpot was worth a mere AUD$50 thousand, the game was a raffle, and the proceeds were entirely donated to charity.
The first non-raffle lottery took place in Australia in 1979, with newspapers advertising “Today’s the Day to go Lotto!” as their headlines. Ticket sales were open for a fortnight prior to the draw, which was hosted by Mike Walsh and Karen Pini on November 5th, 1979. The first prize was worth a whopping AUD$384,975 and the format was 6/40. For many years, the lotteries operated individually, until Oz Lotto became the first national lottery Down Under on February 22nd, 1994.

Why Are Australian Lotteries Special?

The readers and players among you who are accustomed to mostly playing the American and European lotteries are used to seeing different lottery brand names pop up; EuroMillions is pan-European, but is not ran by the same company as the EuroJackpot. US Mega Millions and US Powerball are both owned and run by different companies.
However, in Australia, all the lotteries that are available on theLotter, and thus relevant to the inquiring mind, are all owned by Tatts. Tatts are the people who bring you your favourite Australian lotteries – Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday Lottos, as well as the Oz Lotto and Powerball Lotto.
By the way - lottery prizes in Australia are 100% tax-free!

Let’s Compare the Australian Lotteries!

Australia features many exciting lotteries with thrilling jackpots. The odds of winning are relatively high, giving players the precise combination between rollovers and wins to keep everything fresh, interesting, and exciting. Let’s have a look at the basic stats here before moving on to reading more in depth about each lottery:

Lotto	Draw Day	Format	Jackpot Record
Australia Monday Lotto	Monday	6/45	AUD$1 million
Australia Oz Lotto	Tuesday	7/45	AUD$112 million
Australia Wednesday Lotto	Wednesday	6/45	AUD$6 million
Australia Powerball Lotto	Thursday	6/40 + 1/20	AUD$80 million
Australia Saturday Lotto	Saturday	6/45	AUD$47.9 million

Australia Monday Lotto

As the week starts on Monday for most of us, let’s start our Australian lotteries tour on Monday too! Presenting the first of five, the Australia Monday Lotto  draws… You guessed it, every Monday night!

How Australia Monday Lotto is Played

Australia Monday Lotto is played with a 6/45 format, and there are two bonus balls from the main drum that are added to every draw. The jackpot is a fixed AUD$1 million, and there are six exciting secondary prizes waiting to be grabbed by those who are just short of a jackpot!

Australia Oz Lotto

The second day of the week is Tuesday, and that is when people all over Australia play Oz Lotto. This lottery’s record is AUD$112 million (slightly over USD$88 million), won in November 2012, and it’s the biggest Australian lottery record!

How Australia Oz Lotto is Played

To play Australia Oz Lotto, choose seven numbers from a range of 1-45. As with the Monday Lotto, Oz Lotto features two bonus balls, drawn from the same drum, and there are six exciting secondary prizes to win along with the jackpot!

Australia Wednesday Lotto

Wednesday! Middle of the work week! Time to leave work and get an Australia Wednesday Lotto  ticket on the way home. Australia Wednesday Lotto holds a record jackpot of AUD $6 million, won in January 2009.

How Australia Wednesday Lotto is Played

Australia Wednesday Lotto is played in the classic 6/45 format. As with many lotteries Down Under, there are two bonus balls drawn from the same drum. There are six secondary prizes players can win if they don’t get the jackpot, which starts at AUD$ 1 million, and has no jackpot cap.

Australia Powerball Lotto

Almost done with the work play week! Thursday features the Australia Powerball  – one of the biggest games in Australia! Taking its name from its American counterpart, the US Powerball, the Australian Powerball has a jackpot record of AUD$80 million!

How Australia Powerball Lotto is Played

To win Australia Powerball, select 6 numbers out of 40, as well as an additional ball from a range of 1-20. The jackpot starts at AUD$1 million, and has no rollover cap. After it reaches AUD$10 million, every rollover brings at least another AUD$10 million with it, so the potential for gigantic prizes is always HUGE with this lotto!

Australia Saturday Lotto

Friday is always a good day to check if you’ve won anything during the week. You can check it manually on our results pages, or you can check your notifications. Every time you win a prize on theLotter, you instantly receive a notification that lets you know about it! Wins are transferred directly to your account, and if you win BIG, there’s a chance for a VIP trip to collect your wins in person.
So after you’ve checked and collected your wins from the last week, use Friday to relax and party hard. Here comes Saturday, and with it, the Australia Saturday Lotto. The jackpot record for this super exciting lottery stands on a whopping AUD$47.9 million, and one of theLotter’s very own players managed to win the third division, earning them AUD$10,602. O.S., a member from Russia, had always been fascinated with the American and Australian lotteries offered on the site. It took him less than a year to win the prize that had the time had been considered among the biggest prizes one. You can read more about O.S.’ exciting win here!

Australia Saturday Superdraw

Seven times a year, the Australia Saturday Lotto holds a special Superdraw. The Superdraw starts with a guaranteed jackpot AUD$20-30 million, and many flock to the game in the hopes of winning the super-big prize and making it their own.
The next 2016 Australia Saturday Superdraws are scheduled for 19 March, 7 May and 18 June and the jackpot will start at a guaranteed AUD$21 million in the first two draws and at AUD$22 million in the third draw! Make sure you don’t miss out, and sign up for jackpot alerts for Australia Saturday Lotto. Whenever a Superdraw happens or the jackpot grows exceptionally large, you will receive instant notification about it! To sign up for Jackpot Alerts, visit the “My Account” section of the site!

How Australia Saturday Lotto is Played

As with many of Australia’s lotteries, Australia Saturday Lotto is played by selecting six numbers from a guess range of 1-45. Two bonus balls are selected during the draw as well, helping players who didn’t snag the jackpot for themselves, win four out of the six secondary prizes.
The Australia Saturday Lotto jackpot starts at AUD$4 million, and the record was AUD$47.9 million.

Why Play Australian Lotteries?

A better question would be – why not? With high chances of winning, incredible secondary prizes, and frequent Superdraws, Australian lotteries deserve to receive as much attention as the European and the American lotteries have been getting around the world for a while. Distance is not even an issue – no matter where in the world you are, you can simply go online through your computer or any mobile device, and play any Australian lottery of your choice.
As if all of that isn’t sufficient, also take note – when you win the jackpot while playing an Australian lottery on theLotter, you have a good chance of receiving a VIP trip all the way there, to collect your win in person!
Is one of these Australian lotteries the best lottery game to play? Try them and good luck!

Lotteries and Raffles and Jackpots, Oh My!

Lottery raffle enthusiasm is growing and increasing all around the world, leaving some people who are new or yet unfamiliar with the difference between the two, wondering what it’s all about. How do you choose between a lottery and a raffle? How are they different? Or perhaps you already know the answer to these questions, but can’t decide which to choose? Here is the guide to the five main differences between raffles and lotteries, as well as a list of various options to choose from and help you pick what to play!

What is a Raffle?

According to Wikipedia, “A raffle is a [...] competition in which people obtain numbered tickets, each ticket having the chance of winning a prize. At a set time, the winners are drawn from a container holding a copy of every number. The drawn tickets are checked against a collection of prizes with numbers attached to them, and the holder of the ticket wins the prize. The raffle is a popular game in numerous countries and is often held to raise funds for a specific charity or event.”
The raffles we will be discussing in this article come in two forms:

Independent raffles – these games do not include number guessing, but the purchasing of tickets with codes. Examples include Loteria Nacional, Loteria de Navidad, and Loteria del Nino.

Raffles that accompany lotteries – these are raffles whose numbers are automatically printed on lottery tickets. Examples include Canada Lotto 6/49, EuroMillions & UK Millionaire Maker, and France EuroMillions & My Million.

5 Main Differences between a Lottery and a Raffle

Raffles often accompany ‘regular’ lotteries, though sometimes they offer better prizes than secondary prizes or even jackpots. Players love the idea of getting an extra shot at winning, especially when they don’t have to share the prize! So should you favour a raffle over a lottery, or a lottery over a raffle? Before you decide, here are five key differences to keep in mind.

1. Timeframe

Not all raffles are created equal. Some raffles, such as the Loteria de Navidad and Loteria del Nino, happen annually. Other raffles, such as the Loteria Nacional, happens one to twice a month. Raffles that accompany lotteries have a schedule that depends on their lotteries’ draws. In the chart below, you will find the list of independent raffles as well as their schedule.

Lottery	Next Draw	Schedule
Loteria Nacional		1-2 times a month
Loteria de Navidad	December 2016	Every December
Loteria del Nino	January 2017	Every January

2. Number of Tickets

Lotteries are never restricted by the ticket sales – people can buy millions of them if they wish to. Some raffles, however, are limited. A prime example of this is the Loteria Nacional Extra, who releases only 100,000 tickets. Granted, each ticket is copied 10 times and then split into 10 pieces, so 10 million tickets are available, but it’s still a finite amount.

3. Selecting Your Numbers

When you play the lottery, your number selection options are generally split into two; choose your own, or use the Quick Pick tool and have the machine pick for you. In raffles, however, you can’t choose – you play with the number you’re given.
Some games offer both of these options together, combining lottery playability with raffle randomimity. For example, Canada Lotto 6/49, EuroMillions & UK Millionaire Maker, and France, all fit both the “lottery” and the “raffle” category. Players pick the numbers they want to play, and receive a raffle number on their ticket on top of that.

4. Jackpot Growth

Most people don’t let it get to them if they don’t win the jackpot because rollovers are common, prizes grow, and they can always buy a ticket for the next draw. Raffles, however, do not offer such opportunities. Every ticket sold has a number printed on it, and the lucky owner of the correct ticket will be the one to win the raffle prize. Raffles and lotteries also often work together. A prime example of this is EuroMillions & UK Millionaire Maker, the British extension of EuroMillions. Every EuroMillions lottery ticket automatically carries a raffle number on it, and every draw produces a single £1 million winning number that can be won together with any lottery division prizes, including the jackpot!
When no player selects the winning numbers to get a jackpot, most lotteries allow the first prize to rollover and grow in size. The biggest jackpots in the history of mankind were created by long rollovers that let prize grow from a few million to over half a billion dollars! The number of people playing plays a factor as well; the more that play, the bigger the jackpot is, which is why long rollovers create bigger jackpot jumps – more people are interested. Raffle prizes, on the other hand, are always fixed. There is no rollover, and the amount of participants has no effect on the size of the jackpot. However, the odds of winning a raffle are significantly higher, which balances the pros and cons for both lotteries and raffles.

5. Raffles Always have a Jackpot Winner

As mentioned in the previous paragraph, lottery draws don’t always result in a jackpot winner, so there never is a guarantee that someone will be eligible to take the big prize home. The long rollovers create huge jackpots, such as in the case of the Italian SuperEnalotto. It took 7 months before someone correctly guessed all the numbers, making the first prize grow to a colossal €177.8 million before someone won! Such a thing is impossible when it comes to raffles, because raffles always have a guaranteed winner – the ticket that has the winning code printed on it.
One thing that both raffles and lotteries do have in common through is that multiple participants can “break” the jackpot. In lotteries, this happens when more than one person correctly guesses the numbers. In raffles, it occurs when the code appears on more than one ticket. The Christmas lottery, Loteria de Navidad, can assign the El Gordo jackpot to up to 10 different players, who then share it, each getting an equal part of the big prize. Sometimes people split it even more, such as the case of the Loteria de Navidad draw in 2011, when 10 prizes worth of shares ended up being split among the 1,800 residents of Grand Prix.

Billions of Reasons to Play Spanish Lotteries

The best know raffle around the world is the previously mentioned Spanish lottery – the Loteria de Navidad, which offers a prize pool of a whopping €2.24 billion! The second most popular lottery is the Loteria del Nino, which draws in the first week of every new year. Most recently, on 6 January 2016, Loteria del Nino had a prize pool of a whopping €630 million! As if the prize pool itself is not enough, the raffle itself is impressive in size, offers much diversity and a multitude of winners – did you know that one in every seven players is a winner?
While these lotteries do offer many great advantages, there is one disadvantage to take into account – their frequency. Loteria de Navidad is drawn only once a year, on Christmas. Loteria del Nino is a January draw. The rest of the year, neither of these lotteries offer any additional chances of winning prizes. Those wishing to have the opportunity to participate in mega raffles and win big prizes can do so in the Loteria Nacional. The Loteria Nacional draws once to twice a month, and every draw includes a different theme, different ticket colors, and different color schemes that please the eyes!

More Raffles!

In addition to the Spanish raffles, different local lotteries around the world offer different raffle prizes alongside the announcement of the winning number results. These raffle wins are granted on top of jackpot or secondary wins. View the chart below to see some of the most enticing raffle prizes in lottery games that are available on theLotter!

Lottery	Next Draw	Prize	Schedule
EuroMillions & UK Millionaire Maker		£1 million	Tuesday, Friday
France EuroMillions & My Million		€1 million	Tuesday, Friday
Canada Lotto 6/49		CAD$1 million	Wednesday, Saturday
UK Lotto		£20,000	Wednesday, Saturday

Super Raffles!

Every now and then, the world of lotteries and raffles has something special to offer – the super raffles! Players around the world participate in these, competing for not one, but several guaranteed prizes!
For example, EuroMillions & UK Millionaire Maker offers a super raffle on the last Friday of every month. Winners get the usual £1 million, and on top of that, prizes that include cars, cruises, around-the-world trips, and diamonds!
Canada Lotto 6/49 usually offers a CAD$1 million raffle prize with every draw, but during March 2015, a super raffle was held, and players could win prizes of CAD$100,000 and CAD$10,000 as well!

Play Lotteries and Raffles Online!

Now that you know what the main differences are between the two most common formats of lottery playing – lotteries and raffles – the only thing that’s left for you to choose is how you want to play! Don’t waste any time - play the Spanish lottery La Primitiva, EuroMillions, Powerball or any of your favourite lotteries now for your chance of celebrating the rest of your life as a lottery winner!
What is the best lottery game to play? Try a number of them and good luck!

theLotter's First Powerball Millionaire Speaks About His Lottery Win

In the months of January and February 2016, two online lottery players from theLotter won the $1 million US Powerball second prize. We hope that this winning streak continues, and with that in mind, we take a look back at the story of theLotter's very first Powerball millionaire.

A record jackpot inspires a future winner

B.U. from the UK was one of many around the globe who watched as Mega Millions set a world record with their $656 million jackpot in March 2012 (a record that stood until Powerball's $1.6 billion jackpot in January 2016). The Mega Millions frenzy inspired B.U. to seek out ways to buy US lottery tickets online. A month after Mega Millions' historic win, B.U. joined theLotter and immediately started to play Powerball online. His dream of hitting it big quickly became a reality when the lucky player won US Powerball’s second place $1 million prize after playing just five entries in the lottery 2012/32 draw on 21 April 2012!

During an interview after his windfall, the lucky winner confessed, “One of the things that got me interested is that I heard about the Mega Millions on the radio. That got me interested in American lotteries, and that’s what led to me go on the internet to find out how to play.”

B.U. purchased his winning ticket with a Subscription entry which automatically entered him into Powerball’s exciting biweekly draws. Placing his faith in Lady Luck, B.U. used the Quick Pick option that randomly selected numbers for him – a decision he would certainly be thankful for, as five draws later these numbers turned him into a millionaire!

Rules changes create a new lottery millionaire

theLotter’s customer support team immediately contacted B.U. following the draw, and the prize-winning British player, whose identity will remain anonymous, reported that it took some time to recover from the shock and accept the windfall was truly his! “I thought it was a joke,” B.U. said. However, after the customer support team confirmed all the details the Sunday after the draw, B.U. was finally able to enjoy the win. In his words, “I was certainly woken up properly that day!”

B.U.’s numbers weren’t the only lucky thing, his timing was as well. In January 2012, US Powerball officials instituted important changes that would shape the amount of B.U.’s new fortune. Before 15 January 2012, second place winners were only allotted $200,000. However, with the new set US Powerball prize category rules in place, B.U. was able to take home five times that amount with five correct guesses!

The only downside? Had B.U. taken one more step and clicked the Power Play multiplier option, he would have doubled his $1 million win to an even more impressive $2 million prize!

A winning journey from the UK to the US

B.U. enjoyed a trip to Florida, where the winner picked up his ticket from theLotter’s local office and claimed his winnings. Upon returning home, B.U. made a smart decision and chose to consult a financial advisor in order to make sure that he and his wife enjoy their newfound fortune for as long as possible!

B.U. was happy with his new millionaire status, but said he would continue to play in the hopes of winning an even bigger prize someday! When asked what he would tell fellow lotto players, he said with a laugh, “Not to give up because you never know when the big one will come. It will always come as a surprise!”

A Simple Solution to Forgetting Lottery Prizes

In late 2014, data was collected from each lottery commission in the US to see exactly how much money would-be lottery winners lost by not claiming their tickets. The final amount surprised everyone: prizes from unclaimed lottery tickets in the US added up to $2.04 billion in 2013 alone.

There Are More Prizes than Just the Jackpot

One of the main reasons lottery prizes go unclaimed is that many people don’t know there are secondary prizes; they see that they haven’t won the jackpot and just toss the ticket without taking notice of other prizes available. Another issue is lost or destroyed tickets.
Regardless, both of these potential issues won't befall anyone who decides to play the lottery online at theLotter.
And, should you dismiss secondary prizes... We're not talking small change here. True, most people dream about winning a jackpot worth hundreds of millions, but most major lotteries have multiple prize divisions that offer life-changing cash prizes. So don’t rip up your tickets just because you don’t match all the winning numbers!
Remember that adage from Forrest Gump: life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you're gonna get.

Unclaimed Lottery Tickets in American Lotteries

Some lotteries’ secondary prizes are set amounts, unchanged regardless of the size of the jackpot. US Powerball and Mega Millions are two notable examples of a set lottery.
US Powerball has nine prize divisions and to win the lowest cash prize, all you need to match is the Powerball. Secondary Powerball prizes range from $4 to $1 million.
Mega Millions also has nine prize divisions with secondary prizes ranging from $1 to $1 million — matching only the Mega Ball gets you $1.
An important thing to know about both Powerball and Mega Millions is that their secondary prizes can be multiplied by adding a Power Play or Megaplier when purchasing a lottery ticket. Adding a Power Play will double the largest secondary prize to $2 million and all other secondary prizes will be multiplied by up to five times. The Mega Millions Megaplier is an even more extraordinary addition since it can multiple the second-tier prize of $1 million to as much as $5 million!
California is the exception to the set prize rule. The California SuperLotto Plus state lottery's secondary prize amounts are pari-mutuel, meaning that they are determined by ticket sales and the number of winners in each division.

Unclaimed Lottery Prizes in European Lotteries

Two European lotteries with completely pari-mutuel secondary prizes are EuroMillions and EuroJackpot, both of which you can play online at theLotter, too. EuroMillions’ 13 and EuroJackpot’s 12 prize divisions are each allocated a percentage of the prize fund, determined by ticket sales and number of winners.
The operator of the UK National Lottery, Camelot, has a list of unclaimed lottery prizes in the UK which it updates regularly. Shock and horror! At the time of writing there are 3 unclaimed lottery prizes of £1 million from the same UK Lotto raffle draw which took place on 10 October 2015. These prizes are set to expire on 7 April 2016, i.e. 3 days from the time of us writing this article.

The Simple Solution to Prevent Forgetting Lottery Tickets

Don’t let your prizes get away from you! Another reason why lottery tickets go unclaimed is that people forget to check their numbers or lose their tickets. The solution is to keep your tickets safe and check them after every draw. Obviously, you say, but this can be more difficult than it sounds — lottery tickets are just pieces of paper after all. Ticket misplacement and destruction, whether by unintentional ironing or washing, is a disaster no one wants to ever experience.
The best way to keep your tickets safe is to purchase your lottery tickets online through theLotter! We’ll store your lottery tickets away in a safe and we’ll even check your numbers for you! All you have to do is sit back, relax, and win!

20 Biggest American Lottery Jackpots of All Time

They say you can’t buy happiness… but we sure wouldn't mind having a few spare million! With the US Mega Millions and Powerball jackpots recently in the hundreds of millions, it's time to take a look back at the 20 biggest American lottery winners of all time. Keep playing lottery online at theLotter for your chance to become the next lottery multi-millionaire!

20. Kevyn Ogawa & James "Jimmy" Groves, 28 August 2009, Mega Millions, $336M

James “Jimmy” Groves was no stranger to the Mega Millions game. The 49-year-old grandfather had been playing the Mega Millions lotterysince May 2002. His loyalty paid off 7 years later, as the former Madison Square Garden employee accepted his share of a $336M jackpot.
As a result of choosing the annuity, Groves received his $168,000,000 prize in 26 gross annual payments totaling more than $6,400,000 each. He will receive an annual net check totaling just over $4,000,000 through 2035.
The other half of the incredible $336M jackpot was won by Kevyn Ogawa from San Gabriel, California. He took the cash option, so his winnings totaled $107 million. He bought his ticket from an Asian noodle shop in San Gabriel.
The noodle shop that sold the winning lottery ticket basked in the rich broth of fame. The shop is best known for its simple and affordable fare. A bowl of noodles goes for less than $5. But after Kevyn purchased the winning lottery ticket there, the restaurant became an instant landmark for American lottery winners. Hungry? I'll take $336M with those noodles, thank you!

19. Louise White/The Rainbow Sherbert Trust, 11 February 2012, Powerball, $336.4M

81-year-old grandmother Louise White accepted the $336.4 million cheque on behalf of the Rainbow Sherbert Trust she and her family created. She smiled for the camera and said that she was truly blessed. Other than that, she wished to remain as low-key as possible.
So why the name Rainbow Sherbert? On the Saturday of the Powerball draw, White's son got a craving for the tasty dessert. Louise and her son went to the local Stop N Shop and purchased the rainbow sherbert along with three Powerball tickets. That dessert ended up being sweeter than they ever could have imagined!
The family chose to take the lottery prize as a one-time lump-sum, leaving them with $210 million before taxes withheld.

18. Donald Lawson, 15 August 2012, Powerball, $337M

Donald Lawson, a longtime lottery fan, always knew he would win something, but never expected that something would be $337 million.
"I couldn't breathe," Lawson said, in describing what it felt like when he realized he had a Powerball ticket worth millions of dollars. "I had to look at the ticket twice."
Lawson won the jackpot with numbers that he chose – 6-27-46-51-56 and Powerball 21. These were not Lawson’s usual numbers; he said that this time he was “guided from above”.
Lawson chose to claim the cash prize of $224.6 million, which after taxes left him with a very large lump sum of $158.7 million and one of the biggest American lottery winners of all time.

17. Pedro Quezada, 23 March 2013, Powerball, $338M

Dominican Republic-born Pedro Quezada claimed the tenth largest Powerball win in the multi-state lottery's history in March of 2013, effectively putting an end to his days of managing a bodega in Passaic, New Jersey. Opting for the lump sum, Quezada received $221 million before taxes, which he generously shared with his wife and five children.
His generosity didn't stop there. Quezada also offered to pay rent for residents living near his bodega for "at least a month or two months." Before the win, Quezada would awake at 5 a.m. to open his bodega, Apple Deli Grocery, and close at 11 p.m. Luckily for him, the Eagle Liquors store near the bodega would change his life forever with one simple ticket!
After the win, Quezada and his girlfriend of 10 years split up. The girlfriend and mother of his child sued for a portion of the money, claiming that the ticket was bought with shared earnings. In a sort of romantic turn of events, the suit was dropped when the two parties decided to get back together. Good for them, but a prenup may be in order!

16. Chaney & West Families, 19 October 2005, Powerball, $340M

Steve West and Bob Chaney had a winning friendship. The Medford, Oregon residents jointly won a $340 million Powerball jackpot in October 2005.
Each of the recipients opted for a one-time, lump-sum payment, leaving them each about $110 million after taxes.
You'd expect such a jackpot to lead to lavish shopping sprees. But that wasn't not the case for these two. They were more concerned about helping others.
Steve and Carolyn West, and Frances Chaney (Bob's wife) created the West Family Foundation and the Robert & Frances Chaney Family Foundation to support nonprofit organisations that serve poor children and families in southern Oregon.
"We'd been in some of those situations ourselves before the lottery," Carolyn West said, recalling financial struggles after her husband lost his job and their oldest daughter Erin was diagnosed with diabetes.
"We just want to give back," she said. "We don't expect anything in return."
The Wests and Chaney each bought a house within a mile of each other and a few new vehicles. Both families have traveled a bit, the Wests to Italy and Switzerland with their two daughters, and Frances Chaney on trips with her other four children.
Unfortunately, less than a year after accepting his winnings, Bob Chaney (73) passed away from a brain injury suffered during a fall.

15. Larry & Nancy Ross and Joe & Sue Kainz, 9 May 2000, The Big Game, $363M

Larry and Nancy Ross of Shelby Township, Michigan became part of U.S. gaming history as they claimed their share of an amazing lottery jackpot: the $363 million grand prize in the May 2000 Big Game drawing!
The Rosses have an oh-so delicious lottery story. Larry was buying a hot dog and had just a $100 bill on him. "I asked the guy to give me the change in Lotto tickets." One of all those 98 lottery tickets was actually worth every penny!
The second couple who claimed half the jackpot were Joe and Sue Kainz from suburban Chicago. The couple bought the winning ticket at a convenience store in Lake Zurich.
"To me money has never meant anything more than freedom. So, I think we have quite a bit of it here," said Sue Kainz.
Joe and Sue own a successful brewing company called Wild Onion Brewing Co. At the time of the win, the couple said that they didn't plan to retire. "We put this whole thing together with blood, sweat and tears. And there’s no way we’re going to give this up!"
Both couples decided to take their $181.5 million share in a lump-sum payment for approximately $90 million after taxes withheld.

14. American Lottery Winners - ConAgra Foods syndicate, 18 February 2006, Powerball, $365M

This syndicate that won $365 million included two refugees from Vietnam and a young political refugee whose family fled central Africa in 1999. All eight members were second- and third-shift supervisors and maintenance workers at Cook’s food processing plant in Nebraska, who each paid $5 into their Powerball lotterysyndicate and found themselves millionaires the next day.
The lottery syndicate members were Quang Dao, 56, David Gehle, 53, Alain Maboussou, 26, Robert Stewart, 30, Michael Terpstra, 47, Dung Tran, 34, Eric Zornes, 40 and Chasity Rutjens, 29.
Five of the winners said that they would keep their jobs, packing ham and corned beef on swing and graveyard shifts.
The winners said they often pooled their money with other workers when Powerball jackpots exceeded $40 million. "I don’t think they have a reason to be jealous because when it’s a pool day, we ask people to put like in five bucks, so if you wasn’t there or you didn’t put five bucks in, sorry," said Maboussou, one of the winners.
They agreed on the cash option of $177.3 million, or $124.1 million after taxes. Each winner received $22.1 million, which amounted to $15.5 million after taxes.

13. Jim & Carolyn McCullar and Holly Lahti, 4 January 2011, Mega Millions, $380M

Jim and Carolyn McCullar from Ephrata, Washington were the first to claim their $190 million share for matching all six numbers (4, 8, 15, 25, 47 and Mega Ball 42) in the January 2011 draw. The McCullars bought their ticket in an Ephrata Safeway and Carolyn is quoted as saying, "I had faith one day that we were going to hit it… You got to have faith!"
All the lottery world knew about the second winner was that the winning ticket was bought in Post Falls, Idaho, not far from Washington state. Eventually the second Northwest winner did step forward, a 29-year-old named Holly Lahti.
Holly recently appeared back in her home city, joining former co-workers raising funds for Relay for Life and the American Cancer Society. Lahti matched the total amount of charitable gifts raised at the local fundraiser. In her first ever video news interview, Holly explained how her absence from the spotlight helped and that she was now in a good place saying, "I’m happy. I’m happy [that] my girls are happy. And I’m happy I’m able to do things for my children I wasn’t able to do in the past."

12. Elaine & Harold Messner and Eddie Nabors, 6 March 2007, Mega Millions, $390M

In March 2007, Elaine and Harold "Barry" Messner from New Jersey, and Eddie Nabors from Georgia shared the $390 million Mega Millions jackpot, what was the biggest jackpot in lottery history at the time. How big of a deal was this jackpot? Prior to the winning draw, ticket sales in Virginia exceeded 10,500 tickets per minute!
"This is that early retirement we've always dreamed of," Harold Messner, 57, said in an official statement.
Through a lawyer they hired prior to claiming their prize – $87.4 million in cash, after taxes – the Messners declined all comment. There was no giant check and smiling. They entertained no questions about just how delicious it must feel winning that much money or exactly how they planned to spend the gigantic jackpot.
"Harold and Elaine did everything right that you could ask of a winner in a big jackpot. They signed their ticket, they put it in a safe place, and then they sought legal and financial advice. Those are the steps we love to see our winners take before they come forward," said William T. Jourdain, executive director of the New Jersey Lottery.
Eddie Nabors, a truck driver and father of three, was the second jackpot winner.
"A coworker told me that somebody in Dalton won, so I looked it up in the newspaper," Nabors said. "I couldn't believe it. I was numb."
Nabors took the next day off by “calling in rich” to his job. These American lottery winners took the cash option.

11. Anonymous, 18 September 2013, Powerball, $399.4M

This fantastic US lotto jackpot followed on the heels of a staggering $448.4 million top prize split three ways just six weeks earlier. Whereas that prize was split by 18 different people, this enormous $399.4 million Powerball jackpot had only one winner.
South Carolina law allows winners to protect their anonymity, so although this was the tenth largest jackpot ever won, there’s very little to say about the 9-digit multi-millionaire except that they bought their ticket at a Murphy Express petrol station.
What we do know is that South Carolina claimed 18 $1 million+ Powerball winners across 2012 and 2013, compared to just six in the 2010-2011 period. Between 2010 and 2013, South Carolina claimed almost $700 million in US Powerball top prizes, with significant sums being received and used to support state education.

10. The Cobie and Seamus Trust & Anonymous, 18 March 2014, Mega Millions, $414M

Raymond Moyer and Robyn Collier, a couple from Florida, got lucky when they stopped into their local Publix supermarket in Florida and bought a Mega Millions Quick Pick. They had no idea that this purchase would change their lives forever as the ticket was one of two winners of the $414 million Mega Millions jackpot.
The pair claimed their winnings in person, although the cheque was written out to the Cobie and Seamus Trust, as the couple chose to collect their prize by setting up a trust.
The second winning ticket was sold at Lady's Liquors in La Plata, Maryland. The Maryland winner was able to claim their winnings anonymously.
Both winners chose the cash option for a one-time payment of $115.5 million, $76.4 million after taxes were taken out.

9. Yoda Man, 19 February 2014, Powerball, $425M

February 2014 was a great month for the Yoda fan, also known as B. Raymond Buxton, who won a whopping $425 million playing US Powerball. Buxton claimed his prize while wearing a shirt with a picture of Yoda on it that said "Luck of the Jedi I have".
Buxton chose the cash option, taking home $242 million in a lump sum before taxes, and reported that he was going to donate some of his win as well as travel around the world.
It was six weeks before he came forward to claim the prize after he realized he'd won.
"Sitting on a ticket of this value was very scary," he said to lottery officials. "It's amazing how a little slip of paper can change your life."

8. The Smith Family Lottery Pool, 7 May 2016, Powerball, $429.6M

The owners of the sole jackpot winning Powerball ticket that was sold by the New Jersey Lottery for the Saturday, May 7th drawing, came to Lottery headquarters to validate the ticket and claim their prize. The claimed the prize as a group win and are named The Smith Family Lottery Pool. They purchased the ticket with a cash option which is valued at $284 million.
The Smith Family Lottery Group spokesperson, Valerie Marie Arthur said, "Divine intervention provided the winning numbers to my mother in a dream." Arthur is a retired corrections administrator. They plan on tithing 10 percent of the winnings to God. "Friday the 13th is now a blessed day."

7. Paul White, Ocean's 16 syndicate & Mario Scarnici, 7 August 2013, Powerball, $448.4M

This August draw was billed by many as the draw that could have smashed the $1 billion barrier. Three winning tickets on 7 August 2013 made sure that the billion-dollar goal was not realised in this case, however, the billion-dollar barrier was breached by Powerball in January 2016.
The first winner to step forward was Paul White of Ham Lake, Minnesota. Clearly ecstatic to have won his $149 million share of the US Powerball jackpot, the 45-year-old electrical contractor regaled how his win was (sort of) foretold at his father's 80th birthday party weeks earlier. Playing a game that asked players to match family members with humorous descriptions, Paul was linked to 'their financial plan consists of playing the lottery' - if only everyone at the party knew how apt that would turn out to be.
The second winner was actually 16 people, a lottery syndicate of players all of which worked at Ocean County Vehicle Maintenance. Each winner earned a $9 million share ($5.4 million as a lump sum) and quickly became known as Ocean's 16, after the films starring George Clooney. Incredibly not one of the American lottery winners missed work even after finding out they were all multi-millionaires.
It took several weeks for Mario Scarnici of South Brunswick, NJ, to come forward to collect his $149 million share, worth $62 million as a lump sum after taxes. Even after Scarnici contacted Powerball officials, he remained relatively behind the scenes, preferring not to attract the attention enjoyed by Mr. White and the Ocean's 16 crew.

6. Marie Holmes, TL Management Trust & Anonymous, 11 February 2015, Powerball, $564.1M

Mother-of-four Marie Holmes has not had the world's easiest life. She was raising her four kids as a single mother, and had recently had to quit her job to take care of her son with special needs full-time. Marie asked her mother to buy a ticket for her when the Powerball jackpot grew to an obscene amount. Her mother obliged and the rest is lottery history.
Holmes was one of three winners of the $564.1 million jackpot, becoming the biggest lottery winner in North Carolina's history. She vowed to use the money for good, especially for her son with cerebral palsy. Since then Holmes has been in and out of the news for both positive and not-so-positive reasons as she used some of her millions to help out her church… and to bail out her boyfriend on a drug charge.
Another winner claimed their prize under TL Management Trust. The winning ticket was bought at the Appletree Food Mart in Princeton, Texas. The winner also chose the cash option.
The last winner, a resident of Puerto Rico, remained completely anonymous. All three winners collected their prize as a one-time cash payout of $127 million each, which ended up being $87.9 million after taxes.

5. Matthew Good & Mark and Cindy Hill, 28 November 2012, Powerball, $587.5M

The Missouri winners of this epic Powerball win announced their big victory ceremoniously at the high school where they first fell in love in the 1970s. Mark and Cindy Hill of Dearborn, Missouri spent $10 on five tickets with random numbers, and in return they received $136.6 million! These high school sweethearts made national news and put the tiny town of Dearborn on the map!
The other recipient of the huge jackpot, Matthew Good of Phoenix, Arizona, settled for a $192 million cash payout before taxes. Talk about living up to your name. Obviously his life will be good for a long time to come with his massive Powerball win!

4. Gloria C. MacKenzie, 19 May 2013, Powerball, $590.5M

Mindy Crandell, a courteous customer, was waiting in line at the Publix supermarket in front of Gloria MacKenzie, an 84-year-old Zephyrhills resident. Crandell decided to let the woman go in front of her, not realising that giving up her spot in line would mean giving up a record $590.5 million lottery win. MacKenzie took her spot, bought a Quick Pick, and became the winner of the largest jackpots ever won by a single ticket holder. Remarkably, Crandell said she had no regrets and preferred to teach her daughter that kindness was more important than money.
The jackpot was won after sixteen rollovers and caused a global frenzy with millions of tickets sold around the world. This was Powerball's largest jackpot ever won until the $1.58 billion jackpot won in January 2016.

3. Ira Curry and Steve Tran, 17 December 2013, Mega Millions, $648M

This jackpot was made possible largely due to major format changes made by Mega Millions in October 2013. When the new rules went into effect, it was announced that the $55,000,000 jackpot would grow by 1,000%. As the ticket sales got bigger and bigger, the jackpot grew to $586 million and then to $636 million on draw night. Mega Millions ticket sales swelled the grand prize so much that the final figure wasn't announced until after the draw, finally 'settling' on $648,000,000!
The enormous jackpot was won after 21 consecutive rollovers, just $8 million short of breaking the Mega Millions record. So who finally matched Mega Millions winning numbers 8, 14, 17, 20, 39 and Mega Ball 7?
Two winners each earned a $324,000,000 share of the pot, worth $173,819,742.50 before taxes. The winning tickets were bought in San Jose, California, and Stone Mountain, Georgia. The first to be revealed was 56-year-old Ira Curry, who chose her numbers based on family birthdays and the family's lucky number seven, which turned out to be the Mega Ball and the difference between a $1 million second place prize and $324 million jackpot share.
The California winning ticket was bought at Jennifer's Gift Shop in San Jose by Steve Tran, who almost lost his ticket -- he hadn't even realized he'd won, since the winning ticket was in a pile of other old tickets that he'd neglected to check!

2. Merle and Patricia Butler, The Three Amigos & Anonymous, 30 March 2012, Mega Millions, $656M

The world's second largest jackpot drawing ever (and world record at the time) was held on 30 March 2012, causing the world to go crazy for Mega Millions tickets. As the jackpot rose to epic proportions, players and fans began to wonder whether the prize pool would ever be won!
On the Friday after the win, the first of three winners claimed their $218.6 million share of the prize. Kansas law allows lottery winners to remain anonymous, which was what this wise lottery winner chose to do.
At least the lotto world was able to semi-identify the Maryland winners, three Maryland public school system employees who dubbed themselves "The Three Amigos." These American lottery winners -- a woman in her twenties, another in her fifties, and a man in his forties -- purchased a total of sixty tickets around the state, a $20 per person investment that ended up giving them a return of $34.99 million each! After splitting a massive $218.6 million with each other, it's safe to say that these amigos are probably each other's richest friends!
The last of the record jackpot winners, Merle and Patricia Butler, stayed up all night watching the news and surfing the internet to find out how many winners they would be sharing their prize with after discovering they had won. When word that the jackpot had been won spread around their native town of Red Bud, Illinois, friends jokingly asked Merle if he was the winner. Little did they know! The retired couple came forward on April 18th to claim their cash lump-sum of $111 million after taxes. With a share of the second largest lottery jackpot win ever recorded, the Butler's retirement plans got a whole lot sweeter.

1. WORLD RECORD JACKPOT! Lisa & John Robinson, The Nickel 95 Trust & Unknown, 13 January 2016, Powerball, $1.58 Billion

US Powerball made significant rule changes in 2015, which they hoped would give them a billion-dollar jackpot by 2020. Turns out they only had to wait a few months, not years, to see their billionaire dreams come true.
After more than two months of rollovers, the jackpot was climbing closer and closer to the $1 billion mark. It was utter madness around the world as millions of people clamored to buy Powerball tickets off- and online. When the jackpot finally rose to $1.58 billion, the whole world was holding its breath in anticipation. On 13 January 2016, three tickets with the winning numbers -- 4, 8, 19, 27, 34 and Powerball 10 -- made lottery history.
So far, only the holders of one winning ticket have come forward. John and Lisa Robinson of Munford, Tennessee were so excited – they just had to let the entire nation know that they were one of the fantastically lucky winners of the world. John, an Air Force veteran, and Lisa, who works in a dermatology clinic, even participated in a television interview before they even claimed their winnings!
The Tennessee Lottery confirmed that the pair were indeed one of the historic lottery winners and the couple claimed their unbelievable $528.8 million share at a lottery press conference. The couple brought their daughter Tiffany and their dog Abby, who promptly fell asleep as they were handed their epic cheque. Lisa and John decided to take the lump sum cash option of $327.8 million before taxes.
Another $528.7 million prize was claimed by The Nickel 95 Trust. The trustee is Maureen Smith, 70, of Melbourne Beach. The Trust chose to receive the winnings in a one-time, lump-sum payment in the amount of $327,835,077.79.
After a whirlwind trip to New York City for a visit with The Today Show, the Tennessee winners of the other one-third of the historic, world record-breaking Powerball jackpot of $1.58 BILLION arrived at Tennessee Lottery headquarters in Nashville to claim their share of the prize, an incredible $528.8 million.

8 Ways To Choose Your Lottery Numbers

Winning the lottery is all about choosing the right numbers. It’s impossible to know exactly which numbers will come up because the lottery machines are designed to be completely random. Unless you happen to be a clairvoyant or fortune teller, you won’t be able to know the numbers in advance. So what can we ordinary folk do to pick the best numbers on our lottery tickets?
Throughout the many years in the history of the lotto, players have used many different ways to come up with these all-important numbers when buying their lottery tickets.

8 Top Ways To Choose Your Lottery Numbers:

Hot vs cold numbers – Hot numbers are numbers that are drawn often, while cold numbers are numbers that are not drawn frequently at all. Different lotteries have different hot and cold numbers. Some players prefer to choose numbers that are hot, with the belief that they are likely to come up again. At the other end of the spectrum are those players who like to go with the cold numbers, following the common human assumption that if something hasn’t happened in a long time, it is overdue and is likely to happen soon. There are even those who would choose a combination of hot and cold numbers.

Birthdays – For many players, instinct is to choose the birthdays of family members and/or close friends. There’s one problem with this strategy though – this limits you to choosing numbers only up to number 31, and often the hot numbers include numbers higher than this. Also since many people choose birthdays, chances are (if you do win) that you would need to split your prize with others.

Lucky numbers – This is another favourite tactic for picking lottery numbers. There’s no logic to this method, it’s more of a superstition. There have even been studies around lucky numbers, and an experimental physicist by the name of Jonathan Clarke determined that numbers that end in a ‘7’ digit are actually the most popular numbers. Do you have enough lucky numbers to fill a lottery ticket though? Chances are that you don’t.

Systems and Software– There are many number-selection tools and mathematical systems out there. Not all of them work but there are a few that are worth using. Systematic forms are very effective in helping you come up with many different number combinations automatically. This tool takes your chosen lottery numbers and the number of lines that you activated on your ticket and uses every single possible number combination with them. This is impossible to do manually if you are buying lots of tickets. Online systematic forms allow you to create automatic number combinations yourself using your favourite numbers. This system increases your odds of winning. It also guarantees that you win more because you win in the lower prize categories too.

Aesthetic Approach – This is an interesting approach that, believe it or not, has actually worked for players in the past! With this method, you would literally just look at your lottery ticket and choose numbers in a pattern that appeals to you aesthetically. This is the easiest way to choose numbers because there is no thought involved other than what looks pretty. A true (and amusing) story is that in 1995, in the 9^th draw of the U.K. National Lottery, 133 players won the £16 million jackpot prize! Strange coincidence or was there something more to it? When the numbers were analyzed, it showed that all of the winning numbers lay within the three middle columns of the ticket. Also, no numbers lay in the same row nor adjacently. They were generally chosen randomly in a pattern that looked appealing!

Random numbers – Experts believe that this is the best way to choose your lottery numbers. Why? Simply because when you choose numbers at random you are less likely to have the same numbers as many others. So even though it won’t increase your odds of winning, it will give you a greater shot at winning more money (because you are less likely to have to split your prize.)
There are a number of ways to select random numbers - either you can pick them yourself or you can get a system to do it for you. If you choose the Quick Pick option when you buy your lottery ticket, the lottery itself will automatically choose numbers for you at random. You can even find tools online to generate random numbers for you, but why do this when there’s the Quick Pick option right there on your ticket? If you’re buying a whole batch of lottery tickets, then the Quick Pick is probably the best method for you, because it will save you a lot of time and hassle. It is especially easy to use when playing online, because all you need to do is click on the Quick Pick button – no need to wait in the long Quick Pick line at the store!
There have been many winners of big jackpots who have won with their Quick Pick numbers. Gloria Mackenzie is the legendary US Powerball winner who famously won $590 million in 2013. This 84-year old Florida resident bought a Quick Pick ticket and became the sole winner of this record-breaking jackpot prize. In fact, the kind woman before her in the Quick Pick queue let her cut in line, inadvertently forfeiting the prize.
This just goes to show that even going the completely random route can make you a winner, it’s all up to the luck of the draw. Statistically more players have won by Quick Picks. But the data is skewed simply because more players choose their numbers with Quick Picks than with any other method.

Numbers from a dream – Another superstitious way to choose your lottery numbers is to select numbers that you experienced in a dream. There are many players who base their numbers on a dream, or even on an unusual occurrence or sequence of events. Even though this approach is not mathematical or scientific, there is something to be said about the significance of dreams in our lives.
The $189 million Mega Millions jackpot winner is proof of that! This anonymous winner from Maryland claims that the night before the Mega Millions draw, he dreamt that his family members were telling him the winning numbers. He went out and purchased 10 Mega Millions tickets the very next morning, using varying combinations of these numbers (as well as his birth date). One of these tickets was the winning ticket of the October 1^st, 2013 draw and he became an instant multi-millionaire. Now that’s fulfilling your lotto dream!

Numerology – Players that are into numerology often like to incorporate their significant numbers into their lottery tickets. Numerology assigns different meanings to each of the 1-9 digits, for example, number 1 signifies courage, leadership and independence, while number 8 represents fortune, money and success. There is a calculation involved that condenses an important number (for example a date) in your life into a single digit from 1-9.

Best Way To Choose Lottery Numbers

At the end of the day, there is no exact formula, or right and wrong way, to choose lottery numbers because the numbers are chosen by the lottery machines at random. Whether you’re into mathematics or superstitions, or even just total acts of randomness, the outcome cannot be predicted.
You can even use a combination of different methods to choose your numbers and wait to see what happens. Judy Marsh from Virginia recently won her second big Mega Millions prize! This lucky lady won a big lottery prize twice – first in 2008 and again this September. She consistently uses the same lucky numbers in every draw. These numbers consist of her beloved late mom’s birth date and the date she passed away. Then for the remaining numbers, she selected random numbers. There’s no science to how she picked her numbers but it worked!

What We Can Learn from Repeat Lottery Winners

Judy Marsh is not the only repeat lottery winner out there. There are players who have even won three or more times! Do you believe that they are just lucky people or do they have a knack for picking the best numbers? Some of these players have shared their tips to winning lottery prizes.
Joan Ginther is a legendary lottery winner who won 4 massive payouts, totaling to $20.4 million! Her secret was to buy thousands and thousands of lottery tickets, thereby giving her many different number combinations and dramatically increasing her odds of winning. Other repeat lottery winners have shared strategies to success. Seven-time lottery winner, Richard Lustig, advises not to play the Quick Picks. His logic is that if you choose your numbers yourself you are less likely to duplicate number combinations of recent lottery winners. This all depends on whether you’ve done your homework before choosing numbers, of course.

Choosing Lottery Numbers is Personal

These strategies and tips are based on players’ opinions, and not on fact, so don’t count on any of them when picking your lottery numbers. Obviously the more tickets you buy the better your odds of winning, because you will land up with many different number combinations.
Playing online makes choosing lottery numbers a simpler process because everything is automated. You can save your favourite numbers so that you don’t need to type them in with each and every ticket purchase. You can also enter multiple draws or activate a subscription using your saved set of numbers. Systematic forms also automate number combinations and increase your chance of winning more money.
At the end of the day, you should go with the numbers and the strategy that feels right to you and then hope that Lady Luck will be on your side during the draw. The only strategy that will guarantee you any chance of winning is to choose numbers and buy your lottery tickets, because you can only stand to win if you play.
We have some tips for you if you are wondering how to improve your chances of winning the US Powerball - so good luck!

How To Win The Lottery

Winning the lottery seems like a daunting, if not impossible, task. But there are some players out there who seem to have figured it out. So what is their secret? What do these players do to improve their odds of winning?

How did these players win?

In 2012, the world’s record lotto jackpot of $656 million was won by a group of friends. Three co-workers from Maryland, calling themselves ‘The ‘Three Amigos’, decided to play Mega Millions together. The friends, who were all employees of Maryland’s education system, each put in $20 and bought a total of 60 Mega Millions tickets together.

The youngest member of the group spread all 60 tickets out on the floor, watched the results and checked all the tickets. And her hard work paid off - they had a jackpot winner! She immediately called up her friends, they signed the tickets, made copies and locked the original away in a safe. The winning numbers were 2, 4, 23, 38, 46 and Mega Ball 23.

This record-breaking $656 million Mega Millions jackpot was won by three tickets, one of which belonged to these ‘Three Amigos’. The three friends decided to remain anonymous and they split their portion of the prize three ways. Each of them had different plans about what they would do with the winnings. One player wanted to back-pack through Europe, another planned on touring the Italian wine country, and the third player intended on buying a house for his sister and paying off his daughter’s college fees.

At their press conference, the three educators dressed in disguise and hid their faces behind their gigantic cheque of $218.6 million. We may never find out who the ‘Three Amigos’ really are, but we do know that playing the lotto together was their winning formula!

Playing the lottery in this way, as a group, is also known as a ‘lottery syndicate’. Lottery syndicates are played all over the world and are known to be very successful. Actually, 1 in every 3 jackpots are won by syndicates!

Syndicates can get big

The lottery has been won many times by large groups of players. The ‘Ocean’s 16’ syndicate that won the US Powerball $448 million jackpot in 2013 was made up of 16 members! This group of 16 called themselves ‘Ocean’s 16’ after the hit movie ‘Ocean’s 11’ starring Brad Pitt and George Clooney, and also because they hail from Ocean County, New Jersey.

They were all employees of New Jersey’s Ocean County Department of Vehicle Services and enjoyed buying lottery tickets together. Some of them had suffered the ravage of Superstorm Sandy that hit Ocean County in October 2012, so this jackpot was a big relief for these lotto players.

The $448 million jackpot was won also by two other tickets, so the group’s portion was $149 million. They each took home $3.8 million, becoming instant millionaires. Not bad for a mere $6 investment each!

As these co-workers experienced for themselves, the more members you have in your group, the better your winning odds. This is logical, because more money in the kitty means that you can buy more tickets! There is one drawback, though, to playing with so many people – it is a hassle to set up and manage such a large group.

You need to recruit members, collect money, chase people to pay what they owe, purchase tickets, check results and pick up the winnings. The biggest hassle of all is to make sure that everyone pays on time or even pays as promised, so that you’re not left paying for all the tickets out of your own pocket.

Nowadays, there are lottery syndicates available online that make playing as a group that much easier. theLotter allows you to buy shares in online syndicates for the world’s biggest lotteries with no hassle or work involved on your part. All you need to do is buy shares in the syndicate of your choice, and this online lottery service provider will do the rest for you.

theLotter’s syndicate service sets up syndicates in advance, pre-purchases batches of tickets and notifies players of the results and any wins. You can kick back and relax as your account gets credited by theLotter with your syndicate winnings. Easy and very rewarding.