I hate to see it when friendship backfires. As a lawyer, I read about a fair number of lawsuits that get filed when formal lottery clubs - with rules and written agreements - end up winning jackpots worth fighting over. Some courts say that members who didn't pay up that week are out in the cold, and some say they just have to pay their $10 dues for that week (after the numbers are announced) and they split the multi-million dollar prize.

Any time you can ask "what if?" and not find the answer right away, you might be creating that loophole for a lawyer (motivated by money, not friendship) to take his or her chances in a lawsuit.

There are a lot of things to be considered, such as who pays the taxes up front on the winnings (and whose social security number gets reported to the IRS for the transaction); how to split smaller jackpots; what happens if a club member passes away before the drawing or before the prize is awarded (does his share get split, or does it go to his heirs?); who has to pay any gift taxes that might be due. This is why many contests say that the sponsor's determination of how to handle prizes is "final" - so there is a final arbiter other than the court system.

I am looking forward to the day that the Facebook posts get tested in court: what happens if someone really wins and all they did was post a ticket on their Facebook account with the notice "we will share this with anyone who likes this post." I saw a few of those during this run-up to the huge jackpot.

Of course, there is also the issue of a winner's wife going to a lawyer, who advises her that Hubby does not have to share any jackpot because promises unsupported by consideration from another is not an enforceable contract - and half that jackpot may be hers. I dealt peripherally with a couple who never formalized their divorce, and then the wife inherited a multi-million dollar estate from her stepfather who had won a lottery. Guess who came crawling out of the woodwork with his hands out.

Again, this is not intended to single out Bob's offer, which sets out a formal list of who would participate. At least one other post put a ticket into play without stating that Bob's rules applied to that one. If that other ticket won a million dollars, and no conditions had been placed on participation other than "here's another ticket for us," a court might need to be called upon to decide who "us" is.

As followers of the gambling industry, we have all seen times when casinos have balked at paying large jackpots. I hope this post helps you see some of the pitfalls and how dreams can be tampered with, if not ruined, when big money suddenly falls into someone's lap.