A raffle is a gambling competition in which people obtain numbered tickets, each of which has the chance of winning a prize. At a set time, the winners are drawn at random from a container holding a copy of each number. The drawn tickets are checked against a collection of prizes with numbers attached to them, and the holder of the ticket wins the prize.
The raffle is a popular game in many countries, and is often held to raise funds for a specific charity or event.
A raffle may involve several separate prizes, possibly donated, with a different ticket drawn for each prize, so a purchaser of a ticket may not be attracted to a specific prize, but for the possibility of winning any of those offered. The draw for prizes may be held at a special event, with many onlookers and overseen by a club official or well-known person. In the prize draw, one ticket is drawn for the initial prize; that ticket is then left out of the container. A second ticket is then drawn for the next prize, and that ticket also is discarded, and so on. This continues until all prizes have been won.
A common practice for increasing revenue from ticket sales is to offer bulk sales of tickets, e.g., $10 per single ticket or $25 for three tickets, although this practice is illegal in some countries. This practise is also known as Chinese auction. [1] In some places, (eg. Australia) raffles are regulated and require a permit, or may only be legal for registered nonprofits. [2] Players tend to spend more money on bulk tickets believing they have a much better chance of winning. Since the tickets cost little to produce, and the prize expense has been set, the number of tickets sold creates little or no additional cost for the raffle holders.
Tombola is a raffle mostly played at Christmas time. Prizes are often only of symbolic value. With the Italian mass emigration of the 19th and 20th centuries, the game which originated in Southern Italy was exported abroad and it took different forms and names such as Bingo.
The process may be employed, where legal, to dispose of a high-value item such as a horse, car or real estate. One example was American-Australian photographer Townsend Duryea's raffling off his yacht "Coquette" in 1858. [3]
Where the prize is a valuable work of art, the process may be termed an art union, particularly where the beneficiary is the originating artist. Australian artists who have disposed of their works in this way include Alfred Felton, [4] James Ashton. [5] and E. H. Baggs. [6] [7]
In the UK, the term "tombola" is used when the raffle tickets are placed in a barrel and tumbled before the winning tickets are drawn from the barrel. The tombola booth is commonly used as a fundraising event for local fetes.
In New Zealand and Australia, meat raffles are commonplace in pubs and registered clubs. [8] Trays of meat or seafood are raffled to raise money for a cause, often a local sporting club. Similar raffles are held in Minnesota and Rhode Island.
In a cash raffle, the prize is a portion of the total earnings. These are sometimes referred to as "50/50" draws, with half of the money going to the raffle winner and half to organizers or a charity they are supporting, although the prize may not necessarily be equal to 50 percent of the earnings. [9] Such raffles are illegal in some places, such as California (with limited exceptions). [10]
A lottery is a form of gambling that involves the drawing of numbers at random for a prize. Some governments outlaw lotteries, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find some degree of regulation of lottery by governments. The most common regulations are prohibition of sale to minors and licensing of ticket vendors. Although lotteries were common in the United States and some other countries during the 19th century, by the beginning of the 20th century, most forms of gambling, including lotteries and sweepstakes, were illegal in the U.S. and most of Europe as well as many other countries. This remained so until well after World War II. In the 1960s, casinos and lotteries began to re-appear throughout the world as a means for governments to raise revenue without raising taxes.
The Adelaide Oval is a sports ground in Adelaide in the state of South Australia. It is located in the parklands between the city centre and North Adelaide. The venue is predominantly used for cricket and Australian rules football, but has also played host to rugby league, rugby union, soccer, and tennis, as well as regularly being used to hold concerts.
The Pennsylvania Lottery is a lottery operated by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It was created by the Pennsylvania General Assembly on August 26, 1971; two months later, Henry Kaplan was appointed as its first executive director. The Pennsylvania Lottery sold its first tickets on March 7, 1972 and drew its first numbers on March 15, 1972.
Lotto 6/49 is one of three national lottery games in Canada. Launched on June 12, 1982, Lotto 6/49 was the first nationwide Canadian lottery game to allow players to choose their own numbers. Previous national games, such as the Olympic Lottery, Loto Canada and Superloto used pre-printed numbers on tickets. Lotto 6/49 led to the gradual phase-out of that type of lottery game in Canada.
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Lotteries in Australia include various lottery related products licensed by The Lottery Corporation, The Lottery Office and Lotterywest Australian lottery companies. Lotteries operators are licensed at a state or territory level, and include both state government-owned, not-for-profit and private sector companies. Most major Lotteries have now moved into the online marketplace.
South Australian Jockey Club is the principal race club in South Australia.
The New Zealand Lotteries Commission, trading as Lotto New Zealand since 2013, is a Crown entity that operates nationwide lotteries in New Zealand. It was established in 1987 and operates under the Gambling Act 2003. Its oldest and most popular game is Lotto, which boasts a top prize pool of NZ$1 million. Other games include the four-draws-daily Keno, the daily Bullseye, and a variety of scratchcards and online games known as Instant Kiwi. Instant Kiwi may only be played by persons 18 years of age or older, under the Gambling Act 2003. Powerball and Lotto Strike are optional extras with every Lotto ticket. Powerball is a jackpotting game, with a maximum jackpot of $50 million - after which a Must Be Won draw must be called.
The National Lottery is operated by ITHUBA Holdings, to whom the licence was granted in 2015. The lottery is regulated by the National Lottery Commission, and was established in 2000.
The National Lottery is the state-franchised national lottery established in 1994 in the United Kingdom. It is regulated by the Gambling Commission, and is currently operated by Allwyn Entertainment, who took over from Camelot Group on 1 February 2024.
The National Lottery is the state-licensed lottery of the Republic of Ireland. Established in 1986 to raise funds for good causes, it began operations on 23 March 1987 when it sold its first scratchcards. It launched the weekly drawing game Lotto the following year, holding the first draw on 16 April 1988. It now offers EuroDreams draws on Mondays and Thursdays, EuroMillions and Plus draws on Tuesdays and Fridays, Lotto and Lotto Plus draws on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and two Daily Million draws each day. Its other games include televised bingo, an annual Millionaire Raffle, and online instant-win games. The minimum age to play all National Lottery games is 18.
The National Lottery Big Ticket was a BBC National Lottery game show broadcast on BBC One from 28 March to 11 July 1998. It was hosted by Patrick Kielty and Anthea Turner.
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Caroline Carleton was an English-born South Australian poet who is best known for her prize-winning poem "Song of Australia", which, put to a tune by Carl Linger, was used as a patriotic song in South Australian schools and elsewhere, and was one of four options in a 1977 national plebiscite to select a National Song.
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Tombola is a lottery-style board game which originated in Southern Italy. A variation of the game is a popular form of raffle in the UK and elsewhere around the world.
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The West Adelaide Football Club (1878–1887), previously known as the West Torrens Football Club, was an Australian rules football club that participated in the South Australian Football Association during the 1887 SAFA season.
What is the 90/10 rule? Does it apply to 50/50 raffles?