5 Reasons You Should Never Set Up a Lottery Syndicate with a Family Member

If you win the lottery, I’m sure many of you would share your wealth with your nearest and dearest; and lot of people say that this is something that brings them the most joy, after they’ve booked a Caribbean cruise, bought a new house, and been on a major shopping spree that is.

Of course, everyone wants to win the lottery, and some people dedicate a large portion of their time to doing just that, trying to up their chances of hitting the jackpot, and making every dream they ever had a reality. Organising a lottery syndicate could help you realise your dream, because you have more chances of winning, even though you do have to share your winnings equally with the rest of the syndicate members.

Workplaces are often where syndicates are formed, and a lot of the time bosses aren’t so down with this idea, because if you do happen to hit the big time, well, they’re going to have no employees left on Monday morning! Some people choose to organise their lottery syndicate in a more family-orientated way, setting up a group syndicate between close family members, with the outcome of sharing the winnings.

Now, this sharing and caring game sounds all very charitable and nice, but like most things in life, there is a downside. What do you do if something goes wrong? Money is the root of all evil, have you heard that saying? Well, it’s a truth quite frankly, and it causes rifts and problems. Do you want your family falling apart because of a syndicate issue?

I’m guessing not.

Now, this is a bit of a disaster theory, I will admit, however there are reasons why a family lottery syndicate is a bad choice. Check out these five reasons to give you food for thought.

It Could Get Nasty, Very Nasty Indeed

We’ve touched on this briefly, but look at it this way, your family are not the people you want to be falling out with, and when you’re in the midst of trying to sort out a lottery syndicate-related problem, things could get a little heated. Where money is concerned people tend to become spiteful, and whilst you might think I’m being a little negative, it’s a truth. Family-run businesses are full of pitfalls, and a lottery syndicate is a very similar kind of beast.

You need to set ground rules in place, on who collects the money to put on, what the numbers will be, what the situation is for rotating numbers, who checks it, whether money rolls over if you win a small amount, or whether you pay out – and everyone must agree 100%. We know that in life many people don’t agree 100% on much, can you see my argument here?

Making Decisions Related to Your Syndicate Could Cause Arguments – Can You Agree?

You might think one way, your brother might think another, and your sister is somewhere in the middle; how do you come to a conclusion? Compromise might not work here, because if the situation goes a different way, one of your syndicate family members will blame you for not going with their choice. You can’t win, and that’s basically what a syndicate will mean.

If you are an easy-going family who make decisions and all agree on everything, all of the time, then go for it, but to be honest, a family like that doesn’t exist, at least not on this planet. We’ve talked about this – arguments over money can cause real problems, and where the lottery is concerned, funding dreams, people do tend to get rather passionate.

You Will Need to Have Strict Guidelines in Place, Which Kind of Takes the Fun Out of the Whole Thing

A lottery syndicate in general has to be quite rigid, but if you’re playing with people at work or friends then it can be somewhat fluid, however if you’re playing with family members then you need to go ahead and protect your relationships a little more, and this means being more rigid.

You need a pre-agreement on what will happen during the process of playing the lottery, and what will happen if you do win; it’s a good idea to have this in writing, with signatures of all syndicate players too. You might think this sounds ridiculous, because it takes the fun out of it, but in the event of a problem, and in this day and age of ‘no win, no fee’ legal wrangles, then it’s a good idea to cover your back. Things could get nasty, and family arguments are complicated and passionate enough, without adding money to the fore.

Blame Leads to, Well, Huge Problems

Okay, so you had a busy day at work, you accidentally forgot to put the numbers on because you were so stressed out you didn’t know your own name; it’s sod’s law that this will be the evening your numbers come up. Your family ring you later that evening, crying with delight, and you have to break the news that you forgot. Can you live with that?

Blame leads to major problems in relationships, and when money is thrown into the mix, you could find yourself with fractions in your camp that you really can’t heal. Is it worth it?

Family is More Important at the End of the Day

I’m not being all caring and cuddly here, it’s a truth – family is more important than the potential pitfalls that having a family lottery syndicate could potentially cause in the future. Keep it separate and play your own game, sharing your winnings if you happen to hit the jackpot – it will save you a lot of pain and heartache.