Raffle Drawing Rules

[megfitz]

I help run a large Community Raffle and when we draw the tickets we have been returning tickets belonging to those who have already won a prize.
This to our minds helps to ensure a greater spread of prize winners but a query has been raised that this might not be legal if the holder of the ticket is not present to give permission to discard or return their ticket.
Please can someone advise us on this issue. Thanks.

[Buenchico]

All tickets sold in a lottery must be sold at the same price and have an equal chance of winning a prize. (So, for example, it's unlawful to sell tickets at "25p each or a strip of five for a pound"). Tickets won't have an equal chance of winning a prize if they become invalidated when their purchaser has already been awarded a prize, so your current way of doing things is clearly unlawful. (It would also appear to breach general contract law too).

Have you got a licence to run your 'community raffle'? You require a licence to run a raffle unless it's incidental to an event (e.g. at a fete or dance, where tickets are only sold at the event and not elsewhere), restricted to members of a society (or those on the society's premises), restricted to customers of a business (where tickets are only sold on those business premises), restricted to people in a common workplace or restricted to people living at the same premises.

[Old_Geezer]

I've known strips cost less per ticket than single purchases.

So the ticket is returned each time and can possibly win all the prizes. Seems strange to me.

[ToraToraTora]

returning the tickets?? seriously?

[ToraToraTora]

sorry, it's very illegal!

[THECORBYLOON]

If folk are allowed only one prize, why are they allowed to buy more than one ticket?

[elliemay1]

Good point from The Corbyloon!

[woofgang]

no OG....person A wins a prize. they bought 5 tickets. when the second of that 5 tickets is also drawn and wins a prize then the organisers don't allow person A to have two prizes and they draw again for the prize that person A would have won with the second ticket. Yes its illegal, its also liable to annoy the hell out of your ticket buyers...as Corby says, if you will only allow people to win one prize then only sell them one ticket.

[Prudie]

Usually repeat winners in a raffle will often forego their win voluntarily but if you are doing this without all the group agreeing first I can't imagine why you would think it's OK.

[Tuvok]

I prefer when buying raffles (cloakroom tickets) to know that each ticket will have a chance rather than just the strip having a chance.

At our Christmas meeting its quite common for one person to have a haul of prizes, ands its common to win what you bring!

[megfitz]

Thanks for all your comments and advice, we do need to change our methods. Yes we do have a licence renewable every year.

[THECORBYLOON]

We had a raffle on our section a fair few year ago (can't mind on whether someone had to be picked to do something or other.) Anyway we had a strip of five tickets each and the plan was to draw a strip out the hat.

One woman wasn't having that and insisted that each ticket from the strips had to go in otherwise it wouldn't be fair.

Needless to say she wasn't the brightest bulb on the section...

[Buenchico]

TCL:
The lady was quite right if there was more than one prize to be won. (If you've only got a single strip entered into the draw, you can only win one prize. If you've got 5 individual tickets entered into it, you can win up to 5 prizes). However if there was only one prize then the probability of having a winning ticket would be the same as that of having a winning ticket.

[Davemano]

Surely the counterfoils from each strip of 5 should be split and put into the separately.

[Davemano]

^^^ missed - the draw separately.

[Caran]

I do a raffle every month at our U3A general meeting each month. I sell the tickets for 50p a strip of five tickets. At the draw the strip is divided up to five separate tickets. Usually if someone has two of their tickets drawn they say draw it again. Apart from one person who has won three prizes at the same meeting.
This causes bad feeling but she will not be moved on it.

[THECORBYLOON]

The draw was similar to picking a name out the hat so there was only going to be one "winner"

[Davemano]

That's the point I was raising Caran because I got the impression that the entire strip was put into the draw - as a strip.

[THECORBYLOON]

If I buy multiple tickets and win more than one prize, that is literally, the luck of the draw.

[woofgang]

If there was only one prize corby, then why waste tickets by selling a strip?

[Old_Geezer]

Multiple ticket purchase gives a greater chance of winning a prize. Why would it be banned ?