Shh . . . Don’t Tell The IRS!

A West Brighton bar’s NCAA pool has grown to $1.2 million:

A $10 entry fee buys college hoops aficionados and office-pool addicts a shot at more than $1.2 million in a megabucks March Madness pool run out of a Staten Island bar.

The annual contest at Jody’s Club Forest — which started with a $660 pot in 1977 — has ballooned into what may be the richest pool in New York.

. . .

The pool was dreamed up by Gene Sullivan and Jody Haggerty back when they were both tending bar at Jody’s. After drawing 88 customers the first year, the pool now attracts more than 120,000 entries.

“I actually met a couple in the Bahamas on my honeymoon who knew about this pool,” said Matt Marino, 29, of New Brunswick, N.J., who went in with friends on $2,900 of bets.

The jackpot has grown so large that organizers from the West Brighton pub now have to hire security to make sure there’s no funny business.

. . .

Under state law, pools are legal as long as no one takes any money off the top, or accepts any payment for operating the pool, said a spokesman for the Staten Island district attorney.