Raffle-Tickets.us Blog

Raffles, even for charity, are illegal in many states. Before you begin planning one for your organization, make sure you look into the relevant gaming laws. Here we’ve provided links to the most up-to-date information for all 50 states plus Washington, D.C. These laws are subject to change, so we’ve also provided the name of the government body on whose site we found the information.

• Alabama (illegal even for nonprofits)
• Alaska (Department of Revenue)
• Arizona (Attorney General)
• Arkansas (search the Attorney General’s site for the latest opinions)
• California Attorney General
• Colorado (Secretary of State)
• Connecticut (Licensing Info Center)
• Delaware (Gaming Control Board)
• Florida (State Senate)
• Georgia (Secretary of State)
• Hawaii (Attorney General–opens attachment)
• Idaho (State Lottery)
• Illinois (search state government page for up-to-date laws)
• Indiana (Gaming Commission)
• Iowa (Department of Revenue)
• Kansas (Racing and Gaming Commission)
• Kentucky (Department of Charitable Gaming)
• Louisiana (Office of Charitable Gaming)
• Maine (State Government)
• Maryland (Secretary of State)
• Massachusetts (Attorney General)
• Michigan (State Lottery)
• Minnesota (Gambling Control Board)
• Mississippi (Gaming Commission)
• Missouri (Attorney General)
• Montana (Attorney General)
• Nebraska (Department of Revenue)
• Nevada (Department of Revenue)
• New Hampshire (Racing and Charitable Gaming Commission)
• New Jersey (Legalized Games of Chance Control Commission)
• New Mexico (Gaming Control Board)
• New York (State Racing and Wagering Board)
• North Carolina (Department of Justice)
• North Dakota (Attorney General)
• Ohio (Attorney General)
• Oklahoma (ABLE Commission)
• Oregon (State Government)
• Pennsylvania (Department of Revenue)
• Rhode Island (State Police)
• South Carolina (search the Attorney General’s site for the latest information)
• South Dakota (search the Attorney General’s site for the latest opinions)
• Tennessee (Secretary of State)
• Texas (Attorney General)
• Utah (search the Attorney General’s site for the latest information)
• Vermont (Attorney General)
• Virginia (Office of Charitable Gaming)
• Washington (Gambling Commission)
• Washington, D.C. (Lottery and Charitable Games Control Board)
• West Virginia (search state government page for up-to-date laws)
• Wisconsin (Department of Administration)
• Wyoming (search state government page for up-to-date laws)

So that $5 raffle ticket really paid off and you’ve won a really valuable raffle prize—money, a car, a house. Congratulations! However, be aware that that raffle prize can bite you in the rear come tax time if you haven’t accounted for it. Believe it or not, raffle prizes are taxable, and when the prize is a big one, the amount you owe can come as quite a surprise.

Now we certainly don’t mean to rain on your parade. We want you to enjoy that prize to the fullest! But the best way to do that is by being fully aware of all the financial implications from the start. Otherwise that parade is likely to end in a thunderstorm come April. Money and prizes won through raffles count as gambling proceeds and must be reported on Form 1040. Of course, sometimes organizations will pay the taxes due as part of a prize, in which case, you’re in luck!

Raffles are a very simple thing, really. One person pays another person money to gain the possibility of obtaining a prize. But why does this work? Why would anyone ever give good money just for the CHANCE to receive something in return, when you’re guaranteed to obtain something for that same money if you take it to a store? There are at least two strong desires that motivate people to spend money on raffle tickets: a desire to beat the system and a desire for excitement.

First, almost everyone relishes the idea of beating the system. The possibility of getting more than you pay for is hugely attractive people and is the motivation behind many behaviors. People will stand in line overnight to win free food at a Chick-fil-A. Others will buy products that they have no use for just because they have a fantastic coupon in hand. The same motivation sometimes drives people to buy raffle tickets. They’ll gladly pay $10 for a one-in-a-million chance at winning a new house, even though they know they’ll probably never see a return on that money. Just the possibility of getting a house for $10 is overwhelmingly exciting.

And that brings us to reason number two for why raffles work: excitement. The truth is that a lot of people find life very mundane. There’s nothing exciting about going to the store and paying $100 for a vacuum cleaner. But turn that same vacuum cleaner into a raffle prize and add the suspense of having to win it, all of a sudden it’s a lot more interesting. Plus, when you do win, you feel special—like you’ve somehow beaten everyone else.

Loving this story today. The Centralia Police Officers Association recently raffled off a truck in hopes of raising a small amount of money. But guess what? The man who won the truck (a business owner from out of town) donated it right back! That’s right–not only did they get some money by selling their raffle tickets, but they got to keep the truck for their own use in the community. That’s some serious generosity on the part of the towing company owner who won the raffle.

I really love this idea. I like to buy raffle tickets from charities when I can afford it. They don’t usually cost any more than $20 at most, so I’m not really out much when I don’t win (and who ever expects to?). But say I did win a prize from an organization that I really cared about? It never would have occurred to me to donate the prize right back, but what a great thing it would be. Say the prize is worth something like $1000 (or even more like the truck in this story). That’s like being able to donate all of that money to a cause that I care about for only $20. It doesn’t hurt my budget, and could do so much for an NPO.

I just saw an article about a raffle going on in my hometown that I think is a fantastic idea: an instant wine cellar raffle. They’re raffling off two cases of premium wine to the lucky grand prize winner, plus a couple gift certificates to a local restaurant for runners up. As a wine-lover myself, I can’t think of a more fun prize to hop for for the holidays. One $5 raffle ticket, and I could create a wine cellar in one day.

And not only is this a fun idea for a prize, but it is totally customizable to your organization’s budget. If you have a good amount of money to lay out initially on prizes, you can either increase the number of bottles of wine included in the prize or buy better quality wines. Or, you could offer more prizes, so that more ticket holders have a chance at winning. If you’re lucky, you can even find individuals willing to donate a bottle of wine each toward the prize.

If you buy pre-printed, standardized raffle tickets for your event, they do nothing more for you than to identify the ticket buyer with the ticket stub when it is drawn. Custom raffle tickets, on the other hand, allow you to get creative and communicate much more to your audience. Our standard tickets allow you nine lines of text. Think about how many things you could include in that space. And if you need more than nine lines, we’re happy to oblige–just fill out the “Optional Features” section of our order form. This section also allows you to request text on the backs of your tickets.

So what exactly should you put on your tickets? Well, of course you’ll want to start with the name of your organization or the specific event. We’d also suggest you include the date of the prize drawing, plus information as to whether or not the ticket buyer needs to be present at the drawing to win. This is simple courtesy and very helpful to your buyers. But adding other types of text can be even more beneficial to you. In order to get others who might see the tickets interested in the raffle, consider listing the top few prizes on the tickets, as well as the ticket prices (1 for $1, 6 for $5, etc.).

You can also get your logo or another image printed on your tickets. How better to brand your raffle event than to make sure that everyone who purchases your tickets sees your logo every time they look at the stub? We’ll even send you a proof of your tickets so that you can make sure that your artwork prints correctly before we ship your entire order.

Unlike with some other forms of fundraising, in order to host a raffle you need to have some money budgeted to begin with. If you really want people to buy your raffle tickets, you need to be able to offer attractive prizes which means spending some cash long before you see any return on your efforts. However, if you put some careful thought into your raffle beforehand, you can often find ways to reduce this initial outlay.

One significant way to save money on your prizes is to find sponsors for your raffle. Individuals or organizations willing to donate their time, money or products to your cause. Of course, the more worthy they consider the cause, the easier this will be. If you’re a non-profit organization, it’ll probably be a lot easier to find sponsors. But you can also create incentive for sponsors by giving them something more in return for their generosity than just your sincere thanks. One very easy way to do this is to include your sponsors’ names on the raffle tickets themselves. This shouldn’t cost you any extra, and it gives your sponsors free advertising. Their name will reach as many people as your fundraising does.

Just in case there are any Lakers fans out there who haven’t heard yet (perhaps you were in a cave all weekend?), Ron Artest is raffling off his 2010 NBA Championship ring! Artest announced the raffle last Wednesday night on Larry King Live, and the raffle winner will be chosen on Christmas day, December 25. The announcement was followed by a record-breaking $120,000 of ticket sales in just 24 hours. You can buy tickets on Artest’s own site, www.ronartest.com, or an alternate site set up by CNN, www.netraffle.org. (The alternate site was apparently set up because Artest’s site crashed with the heavy inflow of traffic!)

Tickets for the Win My Bling raffle cost only $2.00 and the proceeds will fund mental health services for youths who can’t afford the care. Artest has been a celebrity supporter of making mental health services more easily available ever since apologizing for a fan/player brawl he was involved in in 2005. In that apology, he publicly thanked his psychiatrist for the help he’d received. This raffle therefore appears to be part PR, part personal. In any case, don’t miss out on a once-in-a-lifetime chance for a Lakers’ fan.

One easy way to boost ticket sales for your organization’s raffle is to offer a discount on tickets when customers buy them in bulk. Offer 1 ticket for $1, 6 tickets for $5, 12 for $9, etc. The larger the number of tickets sold in a batch, the better the discount should be. You can afford not to make as much on each ticket, because you know you’re selling more tickets and your expenses for the raffle are already set. Printing more tickets costs you next to nothing. People will look at the larger batches of tickets as a better deal, and will also consider they have a better chance of winning the prize. If someone wants to buy an unexpectedly large batch of tickets, offer them a special price.

Another way to increase ticket sales is to offer customers a certain number of free tickets if they sell tickets to others. For instance, if someone sells 10 tickets to friends and family, give them a couple of free ones. This will get you a cheap distribution force as well as increase your sales. Just make sure to assess how many tickets you can afford to give away. An easy way to do this is to go by your bulk discount prices. If someone sells 5 tickets at $1 each, then give them one free ticket. To you, this is the equivalent of selling 6 tickets for $5, just as with the bulk sales.

When is a raffle a bad idea? When it makes you look desperate. Take the case of the Bank of Queensland, which is launching a raffle next month offering account holders a chance to win $20,000 in hopes of luring more people to the bank. As the article notes, this cannot be a good sign for the Australian bank. It suggests desperation, indicating that they can no longer rely on competitive interest rates to attract people. A bank should not in any way resemble a casino.

Raffles are a great way to raise money for a good cause and to provide a bit of fun for members of an organization. But if you’re a reputable financial institution, it’s perhaps not the best way to instill confidence in the public. Make sure that you’re not throwing a raffle as a last ditch effort to save a sinking ship if the ship’s a business. Of course, raffle fundraising for a non-profit can be a good way to garner support for a cause that has not been getting a lot of attention.