A raffle is a

gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three el ...

competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indivi ...

in which people obtain numbered

ticket Ticket or tickets may refer to: Slips of paper * Lottery ticket * Parking ticket, a ticket confirming that the parking fee was paid (and the time of the parking start) * Toll ticket, a slip of paper used to indicate where vehicles entered a tol ...

s, 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.

Process

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. In some places, (eg. Australia) raffles are regulated and require a permit, or may only be legal for registered nonprofits. 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

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.

Private raffle

The process may be employed, where legal, to dispose of a high-value item such as a horse, car or

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

. One example was American-Australian photographer

Townsend Duryea Townsend Duryea (1823 – 13 December 1888) and his brother Sanford Duryea (22 February 1833 – 20 March 1903, see below) were American-born photographers who provided South Australians with invaluable images of life in the early colony. Their ...

's raffling off his yacht "Coquette" in 1858. Where the prize is a valuable

work of art A work of art, artwork, art piece, piece of art or art object is an artistic creation of aesthetic value. Except for "work of art", which may be used of any work regarded as art in its widest sense, including works from literature ...

, 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 Alfred Felton (8 November 1831 – 8 January 1904) was an Australian entrepreneur, art collector and philanthropist. Biography Alfred Felton was born at Maldon, Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, i ...

, James Ashton. and

E. H. Baggs Edmund Henry "Harry" Baggs (1865 – 6 July 1949) was a South Australian art teacher and painter, mostly of landscapes in oils, c. 1890–1920. Baggs conducted painting lessons in watercolours and oils, also Poonah and Electric Painting at his stu ...

Worldwide

In the United Kingdom, raffles are occasionally held to circumvent

licensing law The alcohol licensing laws of the United Kingdom regulate the sale and consumption of alcohol, with separate legislation for England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland being passed, as necessary, by the UK parliament, the Senedd in Wales, the ...

s. While only licensed premises are permitted to sell

alcoholic beverage An alcoholic beverage (also called an alcoholic drink, adult beverage, or a drink) is a drink that contains ethanol, a type of alcohol that acts as a drug and is produced by fermentation of grains, fruits, or other sources of sugar. The c ...

s, there is no restriction on the offering of alcoholic beverages as prizes in raffles. At some events, attendees can enter a raffle where prizes include alcoholic drinks. 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 raffle A meat raffle is a tradition of raffling off meat, often in pubs and bars in Australia, in some areas of Britain and the US, and in Western Canada. A meat raffle is also sometimes called a meat draw. In some cases the raffle is operated by a desi ...

s are commonplace in pubs and registered clubs. 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.

Cash raffle

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. Such raffles are illegal in some places, such as California (with limited exceptions).

References