Did someone at work start a pool to buy Powerball tickets?
Lottery officials say office pools are a popular way to participate, but they have some advice for the best ways to do it.
Below are tips from the Iowa and Nebraska Lottery offices:
IOWA
The minimum age at which someone can buy a Powerball ticket in Iowa is 21. If there are folks in your workplace who are younger than 21, they cannot participate in your office pool. If they were to contribute money towards the purchase of tickets, the legality of that purchase would be in question and any prize won could be invalid.
If you are the person buying the tickets for your office pool, you must use cash or a debit card. It is illegal in Iowa to use credit in the purchase of lottery tickets.
If one of your group-play tickets were to win the jackpot, the group as a whole must decide the big question: cash or annuity? Individual members can’t choose a mix of options.
The Iowa Lottery has more guidelines here.
NEBRASKA
Determine who you want to have on your team: co-workers, family, or friends.
Survey your group to determine if members want to play favorite numbers, quick picks, or a combination of the two. Your team should also decide if they want to turn winnings back into ticket purchases or set aside for other team purchases, such as a group lunch.
Select a Lotto Captain who will visit a Nebraska Lottery retailer to purchase the group's tickets.
After the drawing, post or distribute the winning numbers so that team members can see how the team fared.
You may want to keep a running tally of prizes won, free tickets won, and the amount remaining in the team "kitty."
Save time managing money and buying tickets by purchasing multi-draws. You can purchase the same numbers for up to 12 weeks of consecutive drawings – just use the multi-draw box on the play slip.
The drawing for the nation's largest ever lottery jackpot is Saturday.
