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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Rigging the tombola

26 replies

iolanthefairyqueen · 06/03/2015 20:28

I'm probably very naive but I was gobsmacked today when a woman I know told me that she kept the top prize ticket in her pocket so that it couldn't be won! She had provided the top prize for the tombola and said she wasn't running the risk of it being won any time soon! Was IBU when I told her I wouldn't be buying a ticket for anything she had a hand in? She said all that mattered was raising money for the charity....

OP posts:

ScrambledEggAndToast · 06/03/2015 20:29

That's disgraceful!!

carlywurly · 06/03/2015 20:30

Erm, isn't that just plain fraud then? I think I'd be reporting her.

OwlBeGoing · 06/03/2015 20:31

Won't people be suspicious if the top prize doesn't get won?
Or was she planning on picking the ticket out herself oh what a coincidence?
Very bad form!!

kilmuir · 06/03/2015 20:33

not sure the charity would be impressed

TheFecklessFairy · 06/03/2015 20:36

At a Fayre at a Catholic Church once I bought up the final few tickets - guaranteed to win the bottle of Baileys. Not so. Cue embarrassed ladies who had the ticket hidden out the back. Not so Christian after all, eh?

MagelanicClouds · 06/03/2015 20:38

Did she get the idea from Father Ted?

No, yanbu and were right to tell her what you thought! It does sound like fraud.

TeenAndTween · 06/03/2015 20:40

Disgraceful.

(though speaking as a tombola organiser for various PTA fairs, it is a PiTA when the best prizes go very early on).

MythicalKings · 06/03/2015 20:41

I've known this to happen when there are 3 "top" prizes. Stall holder keeps 2 back until the first is won, then puts a second bottle and ticket into the mix and again with the third.

That doesn't seem too bad.

iklboo · 06/03/2015 20:45

Ha, I was going to mention Father Ted.

Original poster

iolanthefairyqueen · 06/03/2015 20:47

She started to backtrack pdq when she saw how pissed off I was and mumbled something about making sure "a deserving" punter won i.e. someone who had bought a shed load of tickets. I told her I would still rather have a less expensive top prize and a fair chance of winning.

OP posts:

usualsuspect333 · 06/03/2015 20:48

That's bad. There should be a fair chance of winning the Dove gift set for all.

Breezy1985 · 06/03/2015 20:48

I bought the last 10 tickets once, 3 prizes left, vodka and wine, none of the tickets left were winners, the 3 old ladies looked like this though they put them prizes away and gave me a bottle of lambrini

thatstoast · 06/03/2015 20:49

There should be a fair chance of winning the Dove gift set for all.

A girl can dream...

5Foot5 · 06/03/2015 20:52

Like MythicalKings said, I don't think it would be that unusual to keep the "top" tickets back until later in the day, but not completely. That would definitely be dishonest.

I know at the church fete they always had a bottle of whisky for the top prize and used to keep the ticket back until later so people would keep buying as long as possible.

Original poster

iolanthefairyqueen · 06/03/2015 20:54

The top prize was a slow-cooker....but I still think it was wrong

OP posts:

ItsAllKickingOffPru · 06/03/2015 20:54

How does that come up in conversation, generally. Do you feel an incredible urge to confess and just blart it out over coffee?

usualsuspect333 · 06/03/2015 20:55

It is annoying when the top prize is a bottle of vodka and all you win is a panda pop.

ItsAllKickingOffPru · 06/03/2015 20:59

Bottle Tombolas are the best for Panda Pop Woe.

You only keep the tickets out for the prizes you're keeping back to draw the punters in though.

Original poster

iolanthefairyqueen · 06/03/2015 21:00

It'sAllKickingOffPru She rang me to ask if I'd like to help out at the next one. She said she was determined to raise the most money this year for our (local) charity. The she just came out with it. She seemed surprised that I wasn't impressed.

OP posts:

ItsAllKickingOffPru · 06/03/2015 21:02

bet that's against the Small lotteries rules of the Council. Ring them and enquire.

Original poster

iolanthefairyqueen · 06/03/2015 21:08

She knows it's illegal etc but as far as she's concerned it's all in a good cause.
I'm sorry but I don't think anything should be"kept back". If you run one of these things it should all be above board. If the "top" prize goes first draw -tough.

OP posts:

PiperIsTerrysChoclateOrange · 06/03/2015 21:12

I alway knew these things was fixed, funny how the same people win time and time again.

thatwouldbeanecumenicalmatter · 06/03/2015 21:14

MagelanicClouds iklboo

Is the ticket "Number 11"?

What charity is it? Apart from the obvious moral implication , there's legal requirements on running a tombola/'lottery' it's covered by the Gambling Act 2005*.

*I only know this as I had to copywrite the t&c for a 'who-can-have-their hand-on-the-car-the-longest' competition for a client for work once - what. a.fuck.on....

zipzap · 06/03/2015 21:44

I'd definitely be reporting her to the charities people and the people in charge of whoever the tombola is run for (so a head teacher if it was being done for the PTA for example). I'd also make sure that nobody else bought anything that she was involved in organising.

And for the people that bought up the last tickets only to discover that they hadn't won the bottles on display - if I'm ever in that position I think I'm going to not bother to open the tickets and say that 'all these must be mine then' and just take them... They couldn't argue with that. Or I'd go to the organisers of the event and kick up a stink if they tried to refuse. That's an awful way to run an event and dreadful to see how common it seems to be.

It also brings back memories of a thread on here ages ago where the organiser of the school pta raffle or tombola kept the xbox or similar that had been donated, got caught and wasn't repentant because she thought that being able to take a prize or two (for the cost of a ticket or two) before the draw was a perk of helping to organise it!

TeenAndTween · 06/03/2015 22:00

So, if there is a 1 in 10 chance of winning, and you keep back 1 good prize and 9 losing tickets (as in prize not on display), is it OK to add in the 10 tickets and display the prize later in the draw? Never thought of doing that.

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