Would you buy a $100 raffle ticket for a house?

Question

I was hearing a story of a lady raffleing off her house for a $100 a ticket and was thinking of doing the same thing. But would people really buy them?

Answer 1

A local charity here right outside San Francisco just did that.  They were offering a $ 2.1 million dollar home as well as other prizes.  The tickets where $150 a piece.  They advertised heavily and ended up after paying for the house and prizes and so on about $3-5 millions.  I don't think you will make a profit like that since some people just did it to donate the money to the charity.  But depending on your area and how well you advertise I could see it working.  

P.S. another charity is doing it now at $125 a ticket $1.3 million home.

Answer 2

<<<Would you buy a $100 raffle ticket for a house?>>>

Yes, if the raffle ticket was issued as a fundraiser for an organization in which I believed. I have done so several times in the past.

<<<I was hearing a story of a lady raffleing off her house for a $100 a ticket and was thinking of doing the same thing. But would people really buy them?>>>

I would never buy one from an individual instead of a recognized charitable agency.

o It would probably be illegal.

o I would not be comfortable that the drawing was going to be fair.

o I would not be comfortable that the condition of the house and legal ownership were represented accurately.

I cannot speak for anyone else, but I think most people would feel the same way. I also think that you would have trouble selling enough tickets.

Answer 3

You can't specify a minimum otherwise you will violate your state's gambling laws (unless you are in Nevada).

In this case, the one doing most of the gambling is you.

Answer 4

The problem you have is selling enough tickets.  If the house is worth $100,000, you would have to sell a thousand tickets to be  safe.  The math is not hard to do.

Then there are various legal issues.  Running the raffle such that you didn't get sued by the winner or the losers.  Ensuring that you were not breaking state gambling laws.  Stuff like that.

You'd need to have a lawyer draw up a contract, and have players sign it.  There are all kinds of legal problems you can run into with such a large amount of money at stake.

Finally, the obvious problem is that if you don't sell enough tickets by the deadline, you stand to lose a fortune.

Oh, and one more thing, if you don't raise enough money your mortgage company may refuse to let you sign the deed over.

Answer 5

Have you ever seen the Publisher's Clearing House grand prize of a house?  Every year somebody wins the prize and claims the money instead of the house.  The reason they choose the money is that either the house or the money is taxable income to the winner.

If you win a house as part of a raffle, you need to put alot of money aside to pay the taxes also.

No, I would not buy a raffle ticket for $100.