Work lottery syndicate non payers

[Scaredycat259]

So I'm on maternity leave and run a lottery syndicate and "bonus ball" .
Some people are in both and some are in only 1 of the 2.
I've always had to chase money off a couple of individuals but they were all told and given renewed syndicate agreements for both syndicate and bonus ball. I specifically stated I would not be chasing money as I would be too busy and tbf I didn't actually say this but I'm sick of chasing money 🤷‍♀️.
There have been a couple which despite saying they would continue to stay in the syndicate have not paid since I went on leave, they all signed the agreement, they all have a copy and my bank details and also there are 2 people who nominated themselves to transfer money to me if people did not use online banking.
So it's happened, the bonus ball for Saturday is someone who hasn't ( despite reminders) not paid me for 9 weeks.
I feel I have to be the tw*t now and do what ice been threatening to do for years which is not pay him his "winnings " because well officially he hasn't won because he hasn't paid in!
I think I've been too lax in recent years and let people pay after the fact.
BTW the agreement does state that I will cover sickness but not holidays and it is the individuals responsibility to remember to pay.
Aibu for putting my foot down?

Pay him the winnings minus what he owes then re-draft the T/C's to say "anyone missing more than 2 weeks payment will no longer be included in the syndicate. It is up to the syndicate member to ensure that they pay on time as I will not chase up any payments owed. If the syndicate drops below (whatever number you choose), then it will be closed and all money will be paid back".

Message or email the group and ask them to decide what they choose - either those who haven’t paid in to be assumed not to be playing anymore, or to get a share of winnings less what they owe to date.

Then say to everyone you don’t want to do it anymore. Or that “from now, if you don’t pay by 2pm on Friday I’m going to assume you don’t want to play that week if you don’t pay for the next week I’ll assume you want out and just give you winnings to date and call it quits”

So if I understand correctly previous winners have received less because he didn't pay in that week. If I were them I would be furious to hear that he received winnings when he didn't pay. This week's winnings should definitely rollover as no-one paid for that number.

I used to run a lotto syndicate in work before covid and every month on a Wed they would get an email saying that I will be doing the lotto on Friday and if they haven't paid they won't be included. Then I would just email the lotto tickets to those that had paid.

We had a big win over 300k between 15 of us where 4 hadn't paid but because my emails had been very clear they were not included.

Interesting, you didn't throw out the nonpayers so their share of the winnings will bring them back into credit. You volunteered to manage the syndicate and put out some ground rules that you expect the participants to follow then you don't manage the situation when you are faced with nonpayers. You should give this up.

I'm not going to pay for people who haven't paid in, chances are he'll drop out anyway.
And me following through is exactly what this thread is about?

Non payers were referred to in the syndicate, this non payer is in bonus ball only.

Update your lottery syndicate agreement immediately so that, if they're not up to date with their payments, they can't win - in fact they're dropped from the syndicate at that point.
You shouldn't be out of pocket by covering lazy gits who can't be bothered to set up a standing order.
I learnt the hard way, ended up about £80 down from 2 people in my syndicate who were taking the piss.

So actually you're not covering his unpaid stakes, the entire syndicate is?!
I'd be fuming if I was a syndicate member and the syndicate manager (you) wasn't running it properly!

You do realise the difference between the syndicate ie tickets and a bonus ball don't you, as I've,said more than once, he is in bonus ball only, how is everyone else covering it? If 14 people pay in one week then the winnings are £14 and anyone who didn't pay in that week but has a "number" is not going to get paid out!

I feel I have to be the twt now and do what i've been threatening to do for years which is not pay him his "winnings"*

Why would that make you a "t*at", when despite what he'll probably claim it's the perfectly rational thing to do?

Just be grateful it's only £30, which many can afford to lose; this happened in a friend's work syndicate where it was a LOT of money, and the fallout was deeply unpleasant
Happily the organisers stuck to their guns though, and for you I'd say it's an opportunity to do the same

It's only the "bonus ball" that he is in notbthe ticketed lottery lines.
And I meant twat not tat 😅

He’s not put money in so he doesn’t get the winnings. I’m sure he won’t expect anything. To simplify the system why not just email everyone and state that funds need to be in your account the day before the lottery day. Also ask people to pay monthly starting on payday if they are happy to do so.

And I meant twat not tat

I know you did, Scaredycat, and apologise for what was my mistake

Not playing the lottery I confess to not knowing the intricacies of bonus balls and such, but I know about the principle of "don't pay a stake, don't win" and can't imagine any decent person expecting a payout in these circumstances

Probably won't stop him though ...

Yeah, I'm gonna draft a new agreement for the bonus ball, when I get a free hand and bob into work with it, it's not like I didn't make it all clear before I left, I did specifically say I wouldn't chase money and if I was messes around I'd end it all

Make it clear if they do not pay and you win they will not get any money - some people need it in black and white, plain and simple terms

How frustrating for you. Just what is wrong with people. I do often wonder how some people get through the day. If you don’t pay you don’t get any payouts. Either set up add/standing order or forget it. I wouldn’t honestly care that they don’t know how to do online banking/believe in standing orders.

A friend of mine helps her parents deal with their bills. Time and time again she has suggested a direct debit for some of the bills. They just won’t do it. Insist on cheques or she pays and they pay her back - by cheque… god forbid it’s late.

They expect her to pay any late payment fees.

Some people just have no common sense or refuse to use better methods.

I'm gonna draft a new agreement for the bonus ball

Try by all means, but TBH I'm not convinced it'll make any difference considering there's already a signed agreement in place

IME people don't chance their arm because they don't know the money's due - they chance it in the hope that a flappy hand, a winning grin and and an "Ooooo what am I like!!" will see them through, and that someone else will pick up the pieces

As I said, just be grateful it's only £30, because it could have been a whole lot worse

Hi op, like you I do the ‘bonus ball’ at work, there’s 14 of us and while some of them pay no problem, there’s a couple who always let the side down. What I would do is send an email to them all and remind them the rules - to pay up or be out of the group. It’s a blooming pain in the bum! Good luck

One of my old work place syndicates was super organised on this. They set up a separate bank account and made condition of entry on setting up a DD to that account. They then had a subscription to the lottery so money was taken automatically from said account.

if people didn’t pay they had one warning and then were booted.

tney kept winnings in the account and once it hit a certain amount they voted to either split it or reinvest it back in tickets.

but that was ran by an ex pa to a ceo of a ftse100 company so she was super shit hot on stuff like that

Personally I'd stop doing it, as a PP said it sounds like too much hassle. The kind of people who 'forget' to pay won't change their behaviour because they have signed something. They'll merrily sign it and just carry on as normal. I'd tell everyone they need to find someone else to administrate by the end of the month, if not I'll shut it down. And I'd explain why I was doing it 🙂

Mine gets paid monthly by dd.

No pay, no play.

Is it really worth the effort?
I am not aware of any syndicates still running at my work but there used to be lots.

What became the last straw for me was when the winnings were totted up at the end of the year and the general consensus (not me!) was to put it all into even more tickets and if any of them won, put it into even more tickets! All this meant was we never got a payout as non of the winning tickets were "significant" amounts of money so back into the pot it all went.

At least the tea club had a payout of the surplus at Christmas!