A lottery syndicate is a group of individuals who play the lottery together. By pooling their money and buying multiple tickets collectively, players increase their

chance Chance may refer to: Mathematics and Science * In mathematics, likelihood of something (by way of the Likelihood function and/or Probability density function). * ''Chance'' (statistics magazine) Places * Chance, Kentucky, US * Chance, Mary ...

of winning a lottery draw and share any winnings between them. In the UK, 1 in 5 of top game prizes across

Lotto Lotto may refer to: * Lotto, original, 15th century name of the Italian lottery * Lotto (Milan Metro), a railway station in Milan, Italy * Lotto carpet, a carpet having a lacy arabesque pattern * Lotto Sport Italia, an Italian sports apparel manu ...

EuroMillions EuroMillionsgerman: Euromillionen or pt, Euromilhões is a transnational lottery that requires seven correct numbers to win the jackpot. It was launched on 7 February 2004 by France's Française des Jeux, Spain's ''Loterías y Apuestas de ...

, and EuroMillions UK Millionaire Maker are won by syndicates.

History

Lotteries have been around since the days of the Chinese

Han dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...

, with

keno Keno is a lottery-like gambling game often played at modern casinos, and also offered as a game in some lotteries. Players wager by choosing numbers ranging from 1 through (usually) 80. After all players make their wagers, 20 numbers (some va ...

slips believed to have financed significant public landmarks like the

Great Wall of China The Great Wall of China (, literally "ten thousand ''li'' wall") is a series of fortifications that were built across the historical northern borders of ancient Chinese states and Imperial China as protection against various nomadic gro ...

. The first known form of collective lottery playing came about in the 18th century in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. State lotteries began in England in the 1690s, but priced out much of the

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...

. As a result, instead of buying full lottery tickets, individuals began buying shares of tickets. People started buying these shares with others and sharing any winnings between them, and the notion of collective lottery playing was born. Some even placed advertisements in newspapers looking for people to share with. In 1798, four low-paid

workers The workforce or labour force is a concept referring to the pool of human beings either in employment or in unemployment. It is generally used to describe those working for a single company or industry, but can also apply to a geographic reg ...

reportedly shared a prize of £20,000 between them, which equates to around £1.2m in today’s money. As

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

and state- franchised lotteries began to emerge in

nation A nation is a community of people formed on the basis of a combination of shared features such as language, history, ethnicity, culture and/or society. A nation is thus the collective Identity (social science), identity of a group of people unde ...

s across the world, organized lottery syndicates became more and more prominent. People now typically form lottery syndicates with people they know, like co-workers or

family member Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Ideall ...

s. Each member pays money to a syndicate organizer who is in charge of buying tickets each week and distributing any winnings. However,

online In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed "on line" o ...

lottery syndicates have gained plenty of traction in recent years. A syndicate formed on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...

won £1.1 million on the EuroMillions in 2015, whilst there are plenty of

site Site most often refers to: * Archaeological site * Campsite, a place used for overnight stay in an outdoor area * Construction site * Location, a point or an area on the Earth's surface or elsewhere * Website, a set of related web pages, typical ...

s that enter individuals into lottery syndicates with other online players.

Notable wins

Lottery syndicates have claimed some huge prizes in recent years. The largest on record is the $218.6 million won by an anonymous

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

-based syndicate known as the ‘Three Amigos’ in 2013. After

tax A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or n ...

es, the three members went home with $35 million each. Another notable win came from

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, where a sixteen-strong syndicate called ‘Ocean’s 16’ bagged $149 million between them. The New Jersey’s

Ocean County Ocean County is a county located along the Jersey Shore in the south-central portion of the U.S. state of New Jersey. It borders the Atlantic Ocean on the east. Its county seat is Toms River.Lotteries