Before you play in an office lottery pool, read this

By Holly Yan | CNN

With jackpots reaching ludicrous amounts, lottery pools are quickly flooding offices.

At first, they sound like a great idea. Why play alone, when your odds of hitting the Powerball jackpot are a measly 1 in 292,200,000? Team up with some coworkers, and you might improve your odds to, say, a much more optimistic 13 in 292,200,000.

But before you either chip in or organize an office pool, experts say you should know the following do’s and don’ts. They could mean the difference between buying your own private island vs. crying softly at your desk while your coworkers are on their islands.

Do:

Designate a leader. And make sure he or she is highly organized. Because this isn’t just about collecting money and buying tickets. The organizer will also have to:

Give everyone copies or photos of pool tickets. Wouldn’t it be terrible if your pool leader said the team won nothing, but amazingly he or she hit the jackpot with a self-purchased ticket?

It’s happened before. In 2013, a group of Indiana hairstylists sued their coworker after that coworker claimed she had purchased a $9.5-million-winning ticket with her own money – not the pool’s money, CNN affiliate WXIN reported.

It’s incumbent on pool leaders to send images of the tickets before the drawing. If they don’t, pool participants should demand them.

Emailing photos of pool tickets doesn’t just make sure players know which numbers belong to the pool. It also ensures the organizer is actually buying tickets, rather than just pocketing his or her coworkers’ cash.

Email the list of players (every time you play). This helps protect the pool leader. At a certain cutoff time before each drawing, email everyone to say who’s paid. This prevents random coworkers from trying to cash in post-victory.

Don’t: