USS Rankin (AKA-103)
USS Rankin Lottery Pool #10
This page provides details about the USS Rankin Lottery Pool running from 1/30/10 through 4/28/10. Information about pools from November, 2007 to the start of this one, including our winnings and over $1.5 billion in Jackpots won by others, can be found HERE.
ABOUT THE USS RANKIN LOTTERY POOL
We play every drawing in the multistate Powerball and Mega Millions lotteries. A new pool starts every three months. Winning numbers, the pool's winnings, news, etc. are listed publicly below and on Twitter at USSRankin. Our detailed rules and procedures are shown at the bottom of this page.
Anyone can join our pool. Most of the players are from The USS Rankin Association, but we DO seek other players, and we have some. Players can join the pool at any time. Adjustments are made on a case by base basis for those joining after the first drawing of any pool.
Players send us $25. In return they get a share in the pool's winnings for the next 26 drawings. If you want to play in the next pool, send your money to USS Rankin Lottery Pool, c/o Skip Sander, 153 Mayer Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15237-1840. Be sure to include your email address and telephone number. Make checks payable to USS Rankin Lottery Pool.
Nobody profits from the pool except the players. Winnings of $10,000 or more are shared equally among the players in the pool. Smaller winnings, usually about $200 for a 26-week pool, are accumulated in a bank account and used to pay expenses and sometimes to buy extra tickets.
The numbers we play and the identities of our players are shared among the players, but are otherwise confidential. At the end of the pool, players receive an accounting of money received, spent, and won.
Please let us know if you have questions or comments about our pool.
Louis "Skip" Sander
USSRankin@aol.com
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NOTES AND UPDATES
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LOTTERY RESULTS
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Beginning 2/12/10 we will play 84 numbers: 78 in the Powerball lottery, and six numbers in the Mega Millions. We will keep track of our Mega Millions winnings, but will not report them on this page unless they are $100 or more in a single drawing.
We judge the effort of reporting small Mega Millions winnings to be greater than the benefit derived from reporting them. The specific reasons for this are: 1) players all know the numbers we are playing, so they can follow our progress by tracking the drawings themselves; 2) the smaller chance of winning with six Mega Ball tickets vs. the 100% chance with 78 Powerball tickets means that most of the time we'd be reporting zero Mega Ball winnings; 3) it would be hard to fit the Mega Ball winning numbers into this table; 3) there would be double work required to deal with drawings on two additional days of each week.
* Jackpot amounts shown in white are estimated annuity values, paid out over 30 years. Jackpots actually won, if any, are shown in gold. (Sooner or later, somebody does win.) If a Jackpot was taken in cash, the amount is shown to the nearest dollar. Otherwise, it is an estimated annuity value, rounded to the nearest million.
** "Cash Value of 1 Share After Taxes" is the estimated after tax winnings of each pool member if we take our winnings in cash. (Most Jackpot winners do that, and we probably will, too.) For the lowest possible jackpot of $20,000,000 estimated annuity value and $12,000,000 cash value, if we have 83 players, each should get about $75,000 cash after 35% federal income taxes. If our pool had won the $139,421,731 cash jackpot of 3/15/08, each player's after-tax share would have been about $1,615,000.
*** Winnings and totals shown here are believed to be accurate, but occasional mistakes are made. Actual winnings will be known only at the end of the pool when tickets are redeemed.
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RULES & PROCEDURES OF USS RANKIN LOTTERY POOL #10
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By contributing to the pool, players agree that it will be conducted according to these rules and procedures. If you disagree with anything in here, please let Skip Sander know so he can try to fix things. If he can't, you agree that any unresolved disputes or disagreements will be settled forever by the return of your contribution to the pool.
Not Part of the Association
This pool is NOT an activity of The USS Rankin Association (hereafter The Association). It is exclusively conducted by and for those contributing to the pool.
Participants in the Pool
A person becomes a participant in the pool when his or her contribution is deposited in the pool's bank account. If the pool wins a large prize before your money has been deposited, you will NOT have a share in the winnings. Participation is open to anyone, but Pennsylvania law limits lottery participation to people 18 years of age or older.
Skip Sander in Charge
The pool is conducted by Skip Sander, who endeavors to operate it in an honest and transparent way, and who has a record of doing so since Pool #1 in 2007. Players agree to abide by his decisions and to hold him harmless for any action or inaction in connection with the pool. Players agree that any and all disputes between a player and Skip Sander, the pool, or other players, will be settled forever and in full by the refund of their contribution. In spite of the above, players and Skip Sander agree that any dispute involving ten or more players will be settled by arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association.
Bank Account
The USS Rankin Lottery Pool has a checking account at the Perry Branch of Citizens Bank in Pittsburgh, for the sole purpose of holding contributions to and winnings from the USS Rankin Lottery Pools, and for paying expenses of the pool. During a pool, this account typically holds $100-$300 or so. Any player can see the records of the account at any time, upon request to Skip Sander.
Picking Numbers
The pool participates in the multistate Powerball lottery, and occasionally in others. Skip Sander will pick numbers as he sees fit, possibly including "Quick Picks" by the lottery machine. As much as is practical, the same numbers will be played for every drawing.
Collecting Money
$25 contributions to the pool can be made to USS Rankin Lottery Pool, c/o Skip Sander, 153 Mayer Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15237-1840. Make checks payable to USS Rankin Lottery Pool.
Pools run for three months, usually beginning with the first Powerball drawing of a month. Money will be collected until the mail delivery on the day of the first drawing, and deposited before the drawing. Contributions received after the deadline will be handled at the sole discretion of Skip Sander. So far, he has always accommodated them to everyone's satisfaction.
Chances of Winning a Prize
The chance of winning a Powerball jackpot is about one in 146 million. In other words, the chance of winning a jackpot is nearly zero. (Nevertheless, SOMEBODY wins sooner or later, and with 80 tickets, OUR chance of winning jumps up to one in 1.8 million.) Your primary reason for participating in this pool should be the fun that you and others have by participating. But just imagine, in the unlikely event that we win a Jackpot, there will be a LOT of smiling faces in the picture of all those people holding the giant check!
The chance of winning a prize other than the Jackpot is about 1 in 36. If a ticket matches the Powerball, it wins at least $3. Because we buy tickets covering all possible Powerball numbers, we win something in every drawing. That's no big deal, but it CAN give you the feeling of luck or accomplishment. It is also the reason that players get 26 drawings for only $25 -- the extra week's tickets are paid for out of our guaranteed winnings.
Buying and Handling Tickets
Tickets will be bought at the sole discretion of Skip Sander. To minimize complexity, confusion, and chance for error, he endeavors to buy tickets for all drawings at one time.
He also endeavors to balance the numbers played, number of players, and number of tickets bought to insure that the pool "breaks even" over its life. An explanation follows:
A pool "breaks even" if the cost of buying its tickets is paid for by player contributions plus the winnings of the pool from the 26 drawings in its lifetime.
Imagine an 80-ticket pool that chooses its numbers so that it has two tickets for every possible Powerball number 1 to 39, plus two additional tickets. Therefore, whatever Powerball number comes up in any drawing, at least two of that pool's tickets will match it. Matching the Powerball wins $3, so the pool is guaranteed to win at least $6 in each drawing, or $156 over the 26 drawings in the life of the pool.
Because of these guaranteed winnings, the 80-ticket pool is guaranteed to break even with only 77 players. Here's why: It costs $2,080 to buy 80 tickets for 26 drawings. They are guaranteed to win at least $156 over the life of the pool. The pool breaks even because the $2,080 cost of its tickets will be more than paid for by the 77 x $25 = $1,925 in player contributions, plus its $156 in guaranteed winnings. ($1,925 + $156 = $2,081)
Depending on its winnings, an 80-ticket pool can break even with fewer players: Pool #8, which won a total of $313, would have broken even with 72 players (72 x $25 = $1,800. $1,800 + $313 = $2,113, which is more than the $2,080 cost of 80 tickets).
When a ticket is bought for the pool, Skip Sander marks its back with his signature and a rubber stamp of the USS Rankin Association's address, and its front with the number of the playslip it corresponds to. From time to time he also buys lottery tickets for himself and other people. Such tickets will NOT have the USS Rankin stamp or playslip number, and will be marked in a way to clearly differentiate them from tickets belonging to the pool.
Skip Sander puts all tickets into a safe as soon as they are bought. Winning tickets are surrendered to lottery representatives when they are redeemed. Unredeemed tickets are kept in the safe for one year after the drawing to which they correspond.
A pool's cash is only very briefly exposed to loss or theft. Checks (and occasionally small amounts of cash) from players are deposited into the Pool's bank account, either at a branch bank or an ATM. When tickets are to be bought, a cash withdrawal is made via a teller at a branch in a Giant Eagle supermarket. The cash is immediately used to buy tickets at a Lottery Terminal in the same Giant Eagle store, usually about 10-50 steps away from the branch. The maximum amount of cash exposed at one time is about $2,000.
Extra Tickets
When the jackpot is large, or when there is a drawing for which a specific USS Rankin Lottery Pool does not have tickets, Skip Sander may, at his sole discretion, buy one or more tickets for the pool, using money from past winnings. Purchase of these tickets will be noted in the Tickets Bought/Number of Players column on the USS Rankin web site. If one of them wins $10,000 or more, the proceeds will be distributed to every person who has ever participated in one of our lottery pools, in proportion to that person's total contribution to all the pools. That means that anybody who has ever participated shares in the wealth.
Informing the Players
During the pool, Skip Sander will send each player, by email or postal mail, a list of all the players, including their names and contact information, plus a list of all numbers being played, plus a copy of these rules and procedures.
He will also endeavor to keep players informed by posting information on Twitter at ussrankin, and on the USS Rankin web site at www.ussrankin.org/lottery.htm, and by sending periodic emails to players whose email addresses are known to him.
At the end of the pool, he will send each player, by email or postal mail, a written accounting of money received, spent, and won during the pool.
What if a ticket wins?
The Powerball lottery offers several ways to win between $3 and $100. If a ticket wins one of these prizes, the ticket will be held until the end of the pool, then redeemed. The winnings, if any, will be deposited into the lottery pool's bank account. A pool typically wins $100-$300 of these prizes during its life.
There are also ways of winning $10,000 or $200,000. If a ticket wins one of these prizes, the participants in the winning ticket will be notified promptly, the ticket will be redeemed, and the winnings will be distributed equally among the participants.
If one of the tickets from the pool wins a multimillion dollar jackpot, the money will be distributed equally among the participants under the conditions described below.
Skip Sander likes to encourage ticket sellers to wish us luck. He does so by promising them the car of their choice, within reason, if one of the tickets hits the jackpot. Players agree to contribute up to $1,000 each toward that purpose.
If the pool wins a jackpot, Skip Sander will hold the winning ticket until the following steps are completed:
 Copies of checks for all deposits to the pool are retrieved from Citizens Bank, to confirm the identities of all players in the pool.Players are notified by telephone. Players not reachable by telephone are notified by Certified Mail.If The USS Rankin Association is a participant in the pool, its Executive Board designates a person to represent its interests and to act on its behalf.The pool participants engage a qualified and experienced financial advisor agreeable to them all. The purpose of the financial advisor is to advise the group about taking the winnings in cash or in the annuity offered by the lottery, and to perform other tasks normally associated with financial advisors. The pool participants engage a Certified Public Accountant agreeable to them all. The purpose of the CPA is to determine the amounts to be distributed, to distribute the money, to make necessary tax filings, and to perform other tasks normally associated with CPAs.The pool participants engage an attorney agreeable to them all. The purpose of the attorney is to provide legal advice and to perform other tasks normally associated with attorneys. In the event that the pool participants do not agree on a person or persons to fill the above four roles within 30 days of receiving notification of their winning status, or in any event within 45 days of the drawing of the winning ticket, Skip Sander will act as The Association's representative and will engage the financial advisor, CPA, and attorney. When the above steps have been completed, or before that, if in his judgment it is in the best interests of the winners, Skip Sander will release the winning ticket to the appropriate lottery officials.
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