How does a raffle work at your school?

[Livingonjuice]

I'm on. PTFA for my sins and crikey it seems complicated ! It was paperless in lockdown times and debate about how to run the next one. Does your school handle cash again? Have you had raffles since covid? Thanks in advance

dc2's primary does cash and tickets, which is done at the school fayre.

dC1's secondary does an online raffle where it is all done electronically, as parents don't attend, so we can still be involved.

i think both versions work for the different school settings

We just did a book of raffle tickets, pay in cash and pull the numbers from a hat.
Simple method really. I suppose if the PTA has one of those contactless machines then people could now pay either way.
It was the prizes I never fancied. Always stuff like a money off voucher for a local (expensive) hair salon/restaurant/pub that I would never use because even with money off it would be too expensive. Or one year the main prize was a small DIY project of your choice done in your home - except we live in an area full of renters so not allowed to do DIY.
I wanted to win a box of chocolates or bubble bath !!
(Several of the voucher prizes often went unclaimed...)

How does the online one work? Do you get a number or anything ?

I could murder a glass of wine right now. We usually get a lot of bottle donations so you'd be ok at our school. 🤣. Who took the money for tickets and gave tickets out ?

I suppose if it's at the same time as an event it's easier. Pre covid we sold on the night of the Christmas Fayre I think. It feels smother lifetime ago! Which reminds me I won a voucher I never cashed in as I'm too shy to claim it and felt bad !

At the event where the raffle is being held
Each seller -
Book of raffle tickets and sheet with a grid on - (ticket number and name).
take cash,
give raffle ticket(s) to buyer
note the raffle number and name on sheet the grid
tear out identical raffle ticket fold into four and place in a bucket
draw the raffle, announce the number and name - and give out the prize(s)

have a notice up saying the prize-winners will be advertised in X for X weeks and prizes can be picked up from the school office between X and X - with prizes unclaimed during that period going back into the raffle for next time.

We send out paper tickets to parents. If wanted return with cash or return unused tickets. Treasurer collects cash, folds tickets. Draw held at nativity, fair or online. Prizes vary from cash, hampers, local farm park tickets, afternoon tea for two voucher that sort of thing. We specify a specific date the ticket sale closes too. Make sure your gambling license with the council is up to date.

good advice to check out license
re raffle - also info here
www.pta.co.uk/advice-hub/how-to-guides/running-a-raffle/

www.pta.co.uk/advice-hub/how-to-guides/running-a-raffle/

Do we need a lottery licence to run a raffle at our fair?
If running a raffle where tickets are NOT sold before the event, this falls under the terms of an 'incidental non-commercial lottery'. As such, you will not require a licence or any specific permissions. However, you must adhere to the following rules:

All tickets must be sold at the location during the event and the result made public while the event takes place.
The promoters of the lottery cannot deduct more than £100 from the proceeds in expenses incurred, such as for the cost of printing tickets, hire of equipment, etc.
No more than £500 can be spent on prizes (but other prizes may be donated) and the raffle cannot involve a rollover of prizes.
If selling tickets prior to the event, this falls under the terms of a 'small society lottery' and a licence is required.

Can we sell raffle tickets prior to the event?
If you're planning to sell tickets prior to the event and the proceeds (from ticket sales) for a single draw are not anticipated to exceed £20,000 then you must register with your local authority as a 'small society lottery'. You would need to pay a small fee and comply with a range of regulatory requirements including providing entrants to the lottery with tickets stating specific information (see below) and preventing children under the age of 16 from participating. If the proceeds for a single draw were to exceed £20,000 you would require a 'large society lottery' licence from the Gambling Commission.

Online payment for a traditional draw is a PITA. I had to get a print out of everyone who bought a ticket (or multiple tickets) in a pupil's name then write each pupil's name + year group on a numbered ticket so the winners could be drawn by hand. Hours of my life I will never get back.

Ouch this sounds painful

Gambling licence is already done I think by school

If you're doing cloakroom tickets sales at the event - do a spreadsheet showing ticket numbers (in groups of 5 if you do 5 tickets for a £1 or whatever) and when you sell them write a name and phone number next to each ticket row - that way when you pull out 141 as the winner you will be able to see Mrs smith won, and it saves writing the names and phone numbers on the back of all the tickets.

i think the school used rafflecopter.

we got sent a link and bought tickets that way.

As pp say, check the rules with your Local Authority. It's easy to get it wrong. For example (in my LA but probably also elsewhere), for a draw, you must have certain information such as serial numbers and the promotor's name and address printed on each ticket. You also have to sell all tickets at face value, ie something like 25p each and 4 for £1 isn't permitted, and under 18s can't collect an alcohol prize, even if for someone else, or have one collected on their behalf. There are people who delight in causing problems for schools and you may just have someone with a grudge present who'd love to report the school for this sort of thing.

Drawing the raffle is usually the signal that your event is over and people will disappear as soon as it is done. You may wish to factor this into your tidying-up plans. For the same reason, announce anything you want everyone to hear immediately before drawing the first ticket.

@Livingonjuice I was the epitome of an idiot and did it the same way twice. Guess what? Still a PITA 🤣

On the PTA here too and we have done online and cash/paper.
We use PTA-events online booking system for this and also bookings for things like santas grotto, school disco and selling donated second hand uniform.

For paper ones, we get the tickets printed cheaply with a list of top prizes and details. Then each child is given a book of 10 in their book bag to either sell/buy or hand back in the school post box (means you can't tell who did what) they write the details on the stub of who brought the ticket. Then we pull at whichever fair.
We raise a lot of money this way but we get some great prizes. We have got donations from Tesco, IKEA, co-op, marks and Spencer's and local venues, just by sending an official letter to their "community teams". Most are on their websites.
We also usually get really cheap Amazon echos/dots on Black Fridays.

@Livingonjuice our raffles were always done at the summer/xmas fair. Usually sold from a table near the entrance. People paid for their tickets. Tickets taken out of the raffle ticket book and name, phone number and/or child's class written on back and it was folded up and placed in hat (or sack or whatever).