Critique this internet business idea: pooled lottery tickets
 

Hi, I just came up with this idea a few days ago and I need some constructive criticism or any thoughts/suggestions you might have. Basically this is the idea: start a website where you sell lottery tickets to the public (or rather they pay you to buy them) with the intention of pooling together all the tickets purchased on the site. If one or more wins, then everyone who purchased would split the winnings proprtionally. The site would make money by charging a commission on the winnings (say maybe 1-2% of whatever the jackpot is) and also on the ticket purchasing (take in $100 worth of $1 tickets but only purchase 98, so make $2, same 2% commission). First off, I haven't done any research yet, does anyone know if this type of thing exists already on the internet? Is it legal in the US? Do I need a license to purchase lottery tickets for people? Obviously all the money would be made on hitting a winning number, which we all know may never happen..but if enough people bought tickets on the site it might be worthwhile. It doesn't seem like the costs for running this type of site would be that high, I would obviously need some type of payment service which is very cheap and then advertising costs. Anyway, what do you think? Thanks in advance.

Re: Critique this internet business idea: pooled lottery tickets
 

People who buy most lottery tickets aren't looking to maximize return and reduce risk and such; they're looking to score that big one so they don't have to work anymore. Your system spreading the winnings among all the participants would basically eliminate the main reason these people play the lottery. Back to the drawing board.

Swede

Re: Critique this internet business idea: pooled lottery tickets
 

Why would anyone want to use this? People don't play the lottery to increase their chances of winning $1000, they play it to win millions.

Re: Critique this internet business idea: pooled lottery tickets
 

If someone was looking to looking for a smaller payout with more chance of winning, they could just pay the "Pick 3" or whatever other spinoffs you can get besides the main lottery. It basically already exists.

Re: Critique this internet business idea: pooled lottery tickets
 

People in my office regularly pool Powerball tix. When the jackpot is large, they get ~100 tix, I think. I never go in on it. If I win that sucker, I wanna win it solo. So there seems to be at least a small market for this kind of thing. But I think what would keep people from it more than anything is they'd have to trust a total stranger.

Re: Critique this internet business idea: pooled lottery tickets
 

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People in my office regularly pool Powerball tix.... I never go in on it. When I win that sucker, I wanna win it solo.

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Re: Critique this internet business idea: pooled lottery tickets
 

The only value that I can see would be for people in states without Powerball or with Mega Millions (or whatever other multi-state lottery).

For instance, Indiana has Powerball, Ohio does not. Ohio has another multi-state game that Indiana doesn't have.

Some people may find value in that.

Re: Critique this internet business idea: pooled lottery tickets
 

You all definitely have a point, there might not be such a huge market for this. Also...it's highly likely a jackpot would never ever be hit, so the only way I'd be making money on this is by charging a commission. It would have to be at least 10% to make it worthwhile, and even that's a stretch. If I sold 10,000 tickets on the site, that would be a measly $1k. Meh. Scrap it.

Re: Critique this internet business idea: pooled lottery tickets
 

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Why would anyone want to use this? People don't play the lottery to increase their chances of winning $1000, they play it to win millions.

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In theory, you are right, but there are a lot of really stupid people. In my office, there is a large group of people who pool tickets every week for the lottery. They might be doing this for the comradery of being part of the group or because they would prefer a higher chance at a somewhat smaller (but still much larger than $1000) prize, but I actually think they might be doing it because they think they are getting some sort of "deal". I am out for a few days, but I am going to ask them when I get back.

Re: Critique this internet business idea: pooled lottery tickets
 

I don't trust the internets either.