when is a raffle not a raffle?

[crisgal]

a colleague has just moved her pre-school playgroup to a church hall. the group relies heavily on fund raising activities. Unfortunately the church is methodist and does not allow gambling in any form. This means that during coffee mormings she can not hold a raffle or tombola etc. Is there a way to have some kind of donation - free prize - type thing that isn't actually gambling, which would mean she can still raise much needed funds from parents?

[stoo_pid]

you could try a quiz or some kind of competition that requires an entry fee?  This would take away the 'chance' element & the activity could not then be defined as gambling.

[ursula62]

When I was a guide leader at a company of guides at a church years ago we got round this one with a bit of semantics.

 

Instead of selling raffle tickets, we asked for donations and gave the "ticket" as a receipt. We explained that the stubs from all the receipts would be put into a hat on a certain date and the three receipts selected would be given a present.

You do have to be careful what is printed on the tickets - normal cloakroom tickets that you can buy in books are OK, but if you get "receipts" printed, they cannot state they are tickets or mention the draw as this would contravene the gaming laws as well as offending the religious sensibilities of the hall owner.

[Hammer]

What about one of those phone-in type questions, ie "What colour is the sky?". Put all the correct answers into a hat and pick the winner. Hey presto, a "competition of skill" rather than a "lottery of chance".

 

Incidentally, that is why lots of TV shows have incredibly stupid questions - they are not allowed to run lotteries, but are allowed to run competitions, so they just make them incredibly easy to get correct.

[FTVS]

What about on of those "Guess how many marbles in the jar" or guess how much someone or something weighs weighs? Then you could annouce at the end and the three nearest win the prizes.

[PatTheRat]

Hammer, another reason why questions for tv shows phone-ins are so easy is so that everyone will know the answer, maximising the number of people who phone in, maximising the money they make.

[Hammer]

Yep, fair point. There are 'lets make loads of money' considerations as well as 'let's not break any rules' ones which was how I was thinking.