Recently I received an email for Weber County Sheriff Candidate Terry Thompson. His email was a polite request of Weber County Republicans to forward on a flyer regarding his up and coming fundraiser—I Shot the Sheriff.
The “I Shot the Sheriff” email and the flyer state the following:
Quickly I fired off an email to Sheriff Candidate Thompson regarding Utah Code 76-10-1101 which explains the illegality of raffles:Thursday, September 16, 2010
Open House from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. or until everyone is done shooting
At the Ogden Gun Club
Come shoot some trap, have some good food, win some prizes and raise money for Terry Thompson for
Sheriff.
With your Registration, you will receive 1 Dinner, 1 Round of Trap Shooting and 1 Raffle Ticket. Only $15 if you Pre-Register or $20 if you Register at the Shoot.
Then you can Shoot to Win!For every 5 clays you hit, you will get 1 more Raffle Ticket. And if you are good enough to hit 25 out of 25, you will receive 5 Bonus Raffle Tickets. Want to give it another try? You can purchase additional Trap Rounds for $12 or 3 for $30. You will receive 1 Raffle ticket with each round purchased.
Had enough shooting & just want more chances to win? Purchase additional Raffle Tickets for $8 or 3 for $20.
There are going to be lots of prizes, including 2 Browning Guns. (More details to come)
We want to give everyone a chance to shoot as long as their hearts desire, so the drawing will occur the following day and the winners will be contacted by phone.
6) "Lottery" means any scheme for the disposal or distribution of property by chance among persons who have paid or promised to pay any valuable consideration for the chance of obtaining property, or portion of it, or for any share or any interest in property, upon any agreement, understanding, or expectation that it is to be distributed or disposed of by lot or chance, whether called a lottery, raffle, or gift enterprise, or by whatever name it is known.
Terry's Response was:
BenJoe,Anyone may obtain a free opportunity by simply showing up, no purchase necessary.ThanksTerry
Stating "No Purchase Necessary" is how people get around the legallity of a raffle. (Either that or they hope no one notices) However, if no purchase is necessary then why doesn’t his flyer say that? It will be interesting to see who gets a free ticket just for coming, especially when it says you need to pre-register for $15.
His, out of date, website doesn’t have much info but his facebook page confirms that you must pre-register or register at the door.
So if you want a free chance to win a gun, go up to the Ogden Gun Club on the 16th and get your free raffle ticket. You don’t need to be present to win.
3 comments:
I know some will say that this is a trivial matter and everyone should just look the other way but these paid "raffles" really bug me.
It's a lottery- plain and simple. And it's illegal in the state of Utah. But you see them everywhere. Even our local PTA has had a paid raffle for the past several years to raise money for the school.
While the ends are more noble than a Las Vegas casino, the means are the same. By preying on a person's desire for "something for nothing", you offer them a chance to win something in exchange for money. And the more money you spend, the better your chance of winning.
While Mr. Thompson, the PTA, and many other groups could simply ask for donations, they know that they can increase their income by going the raffle route.
McDonald's has learned this well with their annual Monopoly promotions. It's not technically illegal because they give away free game pieces in the newspaper or by mail. But the effect on their sales is similar to a lottery. Remember the news story of the man who was addicted to their Monopoly game and was spending large amounts of money on food he would simply throw away?
Thanks, BenJoe for bringing attention to this problem. While I believe that people who run these raffles are well-intentioned, I also believe that they haven't really considered the ethical, and in some cases, legal consequences of what they are doing.
Great point! I love the McDonalds analogy and how they get around it. In reality you can find a McDonalds cup on the ground and if it had a winning game piece you could turn it in.
To try to inspire people to buy more tickets for the draw scheduled fundraising, we awarded those who spent a lot of money with great tickets. One ticket sold for a dollar, 6 for $ 5 all the way to 500 tickets for $ 200! Thinking about a high amount is that many family members, friends and grandparents live far away. They would be happy to support primary schools and can not attend the fundraiser, but they can buy tickets ... and would make junior really happy because the more tickets they buy smaller to free "raffle tickets for children.
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