Question about door prizes at a tournament

[Jackal]

Our high school is having a fund raising tournament for the graduating class.

We are giving away door prizes to the people  that buy mulligan tickets.

If you buy mulligans (2 max) per person you get 2 tickets that are put into a fish bowl.

At the end of the tournament a prize is held up while tickets are drawn out,  the winning ticket gets that prize.

Someone suggested that before the tournament, if someone sees a prize and wants it, to let them buy that prize outright ( it is a charity fundraiser).

 

What do yall think about this?

 

Let me know,

Thanks

[Rory4Pres]

Before a tournament, most people are socializing, warming up, drinking or a handful of other things that don't involve looking at the prizes.  

 

You'll get the most $ after people have played/drank all day.

[jvincent]

It's sort of a bait and switch for people that have bought mulligans assuming that they might win one of the prizes on the table IMHO.

 

Depending on the value of the mulligans / prizes I can see some people getting pissed off. Say for example the prize table get's completely cleaned out before the draw and there were people expecting a chance at a prize.

 

Yes, it's a charity, but people will still get upset. 

[aenemated]

Laws for running any sort of raffle or sweepstakes are dictated at the state level since it's effectively low-level gambling. I suspect this would run afoul of most of them. 

[Rory4Pres]

Congratulations to winner 445714!!  Come on up!   Oh, by the way, the 4some at pebble actually sold before the tournament but don't worry because you are now an official member of the jelly of the month club!!  Congratulations!!

[Abh159]

53 minutes ago, jvincent said:

It's sort of a bait and switch for people that have bought mulligans assuming that they might win one of the prizes on the table IMHO.

 

Depending on the value of the mulligans / prizes I can see some people getting pissed off. Say for example the prize table get's completely cleaned out before the draw and there were people expecting a chance at a prize.

 

Yes, it's a charity, but people will still get upset. 

 

I was about to say the exact same thing before I read this.

 

To the OP... Either have a door prize raffle, or do a silent auction. Or you can do both, but have separate prize pools that are clear to people beforehand.

 

Taking money from people by telling them they will have the chance to win a prize while having zero intention of actually giving them a prize is a really, really awful thing to do.  If I played in a charity scramble and found out the people running it did something that shady I can guarantee that not only would I never support that charity again, but I would tell everyone I knew to avoid it also. 

[david.c.w]

Agree, this is no bueno, unless you have 2 of the same prize and one can be bought and one can raffled.  Our main charity event that raises about $400k, has a live auction.  One is a trip to XYZ donated by a member.  Trip goes for $20k+ or whatever and then they ask the member if the 2nd place bidder can get a week also, by paying their last bid.  Totally orchestrated, but very effective at raising money.

 

 

[aenemated]

22 minutes ago, Abh159 said:

Taking money from people by telling them they will have the chance to win a prize while having zero intention of actually giving them a prize is a really, really awful thing to do.

 

It's also illegal.

 

There's a ton of laws around any sort of sweepstakes, raffles, etc. And probably moreso when there's a charity involved. 

 

Source: I've built and run of these sorts of systems over the years. Next time you get some spam email about a contest; check out the terms and conditions, rules, etc. They're super specific about everything.

[amace04]

2 hours ago, Jackal said:

Our high school is having a fund raising tournament for the graduating class.

We are giving away door prizes to the people  that buy mulligan tickets.

If you buy mulligans (2 max) per person you get 2 tickets that are put into a fish bowl.

At the end of the tournament a prize is held up while tickets are drawn out,  the winning ticket gets that prize.

Someone suggested that before the tournament, if someone sees a prize and wants it, to let them buy that prize outright ( it is a charity fundraiser).

 

What do yall think about this?

 

Let me know,

Thanks

The someone who suggested that better not have any part in organizing this tournament.  That's shady af.  It's also illegal.

 

[Abh159]

8 minutes ago, aenemated said:

 

It's also illegal.

 

There's a ton of laws around any sort of sweepstakes, raffles, etc. And probably more so when there's a charity involved. 

 

Source: I've built and run of these sorts of systems over the years. Next time you get some spam email about a contest; check out the terms and conditions, rules, etc. They're super specific about everything.

 

Good point. Although I doubt anyone is going to alert the authorities or try to sue the OP in this case over a measly $10.

 

I imagine the backlash he'd face from angry community members would be much worse. 

[aenemated]

Just now, Abh159 said:

Although I doubt anyone is going to alert the authorities or try to sue the OP in this case over a measly $10.

 

I WANT to believe that ... but I've seen people go ballistic over less when they think they're entitled to more. 

 

People are weird, dude. 

[Abh159]

5 minutes ago, aenemated said:

People are weird, dude. 

 

True. I once heard about a guy who was planning on ripping off a bunch of people at a charity golf scramble by tricking them into buying fake door prize tickets...

[MattM97]

1 hour ago, Rory4Pres said:

Congratulations to winner 445714!!  Come on up!   Oh, by the way, the 4some at pebble actually sold before the tournament but don't worry because you are now an official member of the jelly of the month club!!  Congratulations!!

 

[Jackal]

Thanks  for the info. 

I think I will  just show this thread to the person.