Is it a good idea to join a Mega Millions office lottery pool? How do they work?

The odds of winning the Powerball or Mega Millions lotteries is astronomical, in the ballpark of one in 300 million. So the more swings you can take at scoring it big, the better. But an individual can only risk so much of their hard-earning cash on what most will admit is a pipe dream.

So, one way to improve your chances is pooling funds together with friends, family or colleagues at work. However, there are some steps that you should take before the tickets are even purchased to avoid legal problems should one of the tickets hit the jackpot.

Is it a good idea to join a Mega Millions office lottery pool? How do they work?

As with any business proposition you should lay out the how it will all work according to the experts. First and foremost, a designated leader should be chosen by the group.

The leader, for their part, will be responsible for collecting the money, purchasing the tickets and keeping them safe on the one hand. That person will also have to create an email list of everyone in the group and send each one a copy of the tickets as an attachment along with the agreement that must be hashed out among the members.

As for the agreement, the group must put down in writing how the jackpot prize money will be split among the members. As well, there should be a consensus on how the prize money will be claimed, as a lump sum or a 29-year annuity.

Also ask yourselves what should be done with smaller winnings, divvy them up or have them rollover for the next drawing. Take into consideration that the amount may breach the taxable threshold of $5,000 for the IRS, but your state may have its own rules.

You may also be interested in: Mega Millions: How much tax would you pay if you won the $977 million jackpot?

This agreement does not have to be a legal document, a simple email with everyone in the group included in copy, along with a copy of the tickets, can suffice according to Robert Pagliarini a California attorney. The “sudden-wealth situation” specialist told MarketWatch that you want to have everything “crystal clear” to avoid any contention in the event that you win.

Other lawyers who’ve handled lawsuits involving workplace lottery pools gone awry advise that you have something more ironclad. “The parties should sign a written contract, identifying each participant,” says Chicago lawyer Michael Haugh, who represented the Dirty Dozen that won it big in 2012 but didn’t see any money for three years while a dispute worked its way through the courts.

Should you want to cover your bases with a legal document, there are a number of templates for such that you can find for free online. Just make sure that you have something down in writing. Because even though you might think it impossible to win, it just might happen, however slim that may be.

Haugh gave his own views on what can happen then: “Money has a way of corrupting people. And when you get into the hundreds of millions of dollars, otherwise honest people might be tempted to present a claim they know is invalid.”