I think you have a good niche, I don't think it will be huge but it could definitely provide a good income to a small team.
That being said, there are some trust issues that you will have to deal with and you should address them right up front. Basically right after a prospective users knows what you do, the next question in their mind is going to be how do I know I wont get screwed? you will have to solve for this problem.
I looks like you are letting them form their own groups, but I would assume for it to be truly powerful, users will eventually have to group up with people they don't know. Some people are going to want to pull in large number groups and their network will not be able to support that.
You should also track winnings if it is possible, so that you can build a winner rating for people. While it may not be a relevant state gambling is based of a lot of emotion so emotionally people with a winning record will be looked at as having a badge of honor and will be sought out to pool with.
You should research the laws to see if you can be a purchasing entity for tickets, that you then hold in pools for groups. You should check with state lotteries to see if you can become a retailer of tickets, if so you could build a revenue stream by selling tickets into a trust for pools. I would disclose any quick pick type numbers selected by the pool before the lottery drawings so their can be no question as to transparency of what is being purchased by the pool. Further, a system where you can estimate winnings would be valuable, basically taking the payout of the lottery and splitting it by the amount of people in the pool that way people get a good view of what joining a pool will return if it wins. I would use real immediate payout dollars and not the funny math the states use for advertisement.
Also since one person is getting paid and then paying others, you will lose a lot of money in taxes on every payment. Are you planning to deal with that and how?
I'm thinking to let users pay the overhead of each transaction or setup a monthly plan that will allow only certain # of transaction per month. Regarding taxes, I havn't thought about that yet, maybe I can have group users directly pay the person who formed the group.
Kls, Thank you for the great feedback, we really appreciate it. We will definitely look at your suggestions.Regarding trust issues, everyone will get a copy of the ticket before the draw. Also, group will have name of each user who participated and the numbers they selected. I have looked at the state laws and there are few where lottery tickets cannot be purchased online (which we are not).
On the issue of trust. You are asking people to give the site their personal information, but you have no privacy policy -- a big no-no. And, given your statement above, anyone could join a group and then collect the information of the other participants -- another no-no. Technically, in the US, there is nothing illegal about that but you really should at least disclose that to users before they sign up.
Briefly, best practices would suggest you let anyone signing up know exactly how you intend on storing, sharing and using the information they provide. You should also get explicit consent to do so when they sign up.
My email is in my profile. Feel free to contact me directly if you want a clearer explanation.
That being said, there are some trust issues that you will have to deal with and you should address them right up front. Basically right after a prospective users knows what you do, the next question in their mind is going to be how do I know I wont get screwed? you will have to solve for this problem.
I looks like you are letting them form their own groups, but I would assume for it to be truly powerful, users will eventually have to group up with people they don't know. Some people are going to want to pull in large number groups and their network will not be able to support that.
You should also track winnings if it is possible, so that you can build a winner rating for people. While it may not be a relevant state gambling is based of a lot of emotion so emotionally people with a winning record will be looked at as having a badge of honor and will be sought out to pool with.
You should research the laws to see if you can be a purchasing entity for tickets, that you then hold in pools for groups. You should check with state lotteries to see if you can become a retailer of tickets, if so you could build a revenue stream by selling tickets into a trust for pools. I would disclose any quick pick type numbers selected by the pool before the lottery drawings so their can be no question as to transparency of what is being purchased by the pool. Further, a system where you can estimate winnings would be valuable, basically taking the payout of the lottery and splitting it by the amount of people in the pool that way people get a good view of what joining a pool will return if it wins. I would use real immediate payout dollars and not the funny math the states use for advertisement.