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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be annoyed about the tombola

44 replies

LittleDonkeyKong · 01/12/2022 21:23

Went to my small towns Christmas light switch on tonight. There was a tombola with 3 prizes left. I bought 20 tickets and not a winner. I had picked all the purple tickets which was the colour on 2 of the prizes. Lady running the tombola checked the few remaining tickets in the bucket and the tickets for those prizes weren't in it. I jokingly said I've spent 4 quid I'll take the prosecco and she said no I'll keep that for another tombola. Would you be annoyed?

OP posts:
user1487194234 · 01/12/2022 21:23

no

Bananarama21 · 01/12/2022 21:24

Are you saying the winning tickets weren't in the bucket?

Ohdearnotagain76 · 01/12/2022 21:24

I’d ask for my money back,

LydiaBennetsUglyBonnet · 01/12/2022 21:25

Yes I’d be very annoyed!

Tombolas are not difficult to run you’d have to be exceptionally stupid to cock them up!

Beees · 01/12/2022 21:26

I would have asked for money back if the ticket for the prize definitely wasn't there! How bloody cheeky of her to think it was OK to just keep the money and the items.

thistimelastweek · 01/12/2022 21:27

Someone fucked up the tickets
Easy mistake to make but if it were me I'd have owned the mistake and given you a prize.
Good cause or not, you can't sell tickets on false pretences

Bananarama21 · 01/12/2022 21:28

I'm guessing she took winning tickets aside and forgot to put them in towards the end. Shameful but alot of charities have done this so they good prizes don't go.

Original poster
LittleDonkeyKong · 01/12/2022 21:30

It such a first world problem but since I've got home it's wound me up. Could have done with that bottle of secco tonight 🤣

OP posts:
NadjaCravensworth · 01/12/2022 21:31

I'd be asking for a refund - and consider reporting to someone, not sure who, but depending on how arsey she was would influence my decision

YumSushi · 01/12/2022 21:33

Bet she snaffled them

SunshineAndFizz · 01/12/2022 21:33

She's messed up but can't just give out prizes willy nilly.

Smartiepants79 · 01/12/2022 21:33

Was it for charity?? If so I really couldn’t get worked up.
I would not spend £4 on 20!!! Tombola tickets either though.

crussont · 01/12/2022 21:34

Smartiepants79 · 01/12/2022 21:33

Was it for charity?? If so I really couldn’t get worked up.
I would not spend £4 on 20!!! Tombola tickets either though.

If it was for charity report to charity commission

Beees · 01/12/2022 21:36

SunshineAndFizz · 01/12/2022 21:33

She's messed up but can't just give out prizes willy nilly.

I'm staggered anyone could mess up a tombola it's hardly difficult. Either way she's not handing them out willy nilly she's giving the prize to the person who brought the last ticket in the colour matching teh prize.

ReedOfFate · 01/12/2022 21:37

I think messing around with lottery type things is illegal under gambling laws. I can see why they might take out the winning tickets for the good prizes to keep them on show, but it’s not following lottery rules

SonnySideDown · 01/12/2022 21:40

DD paid £1 for two tombola tickets at a local fayre. It was on a guide dogs for the blind stall, the prize was a soft toy labrador so right up DD's street.

She picked a winning ticket and was then told that shouldn't have happened and they didn't actually have the prize for her. The woman running the stall didn't know what to do so had to ask the woman in charge if DD could have a prize!

Tannedandfake · 01/12/2022 21:42

LittleDonkeyKong · 01/12/2022 21:23

Went to my small towns Christmas light switch on tonight. There was a tombola with 3 prizes left. I bought 20 tickets and not a winner. I had picked all the purple tickets which was the colour on 2 of the prizes. Lady running the tombola checked the few remaining tickets in the bucket and the tickets for those prizes weren't in it. I jokingly said I've spent 4 quid I'll take the prosecco and she said no I'll keep that for another tombola. Would you be annoyed?

You picked all the purple tickets??
Always thought you couldn’t see which tickets you were choosing?

Original poster
LittleDonkeyKong · 01/12/2022 21:46

@Tannedandfake you can when they're in a bucket with no lid!

OP posts:
CryCeratops · 01/12/2022 21:46

I’d have wanted a refund if I’d spent money like that and then discovered that there were no winning tickets left.

That’s taking people’s money under false pretences surely.

girlmom21 · 01/12/2022 21:47

What's the money going towards?

Original poster
LittleDonkeyKong · 01/12/2022 21:48

@girlmom21 scouts but that's not really the point.

OP posts:
Aroundthetwist · 01/12/2022 21:52

I think it’s ok to keep a couple of prizes aside, and add them in once the prizes had started to dwindle a bit - putting in the winning tickets and new prizes later in the day.

But I definitely don’t think it’s right to display the prizes, but make it impossible to win them as the tickets aren’t in the bucket ! That has to be against gambling rules.

I’d probably have put my tickets back, asked them to put the winning purple tickets in, then redrawn !

SirGawain · 01/12/2022 21:58

I don't think I could get worked up about this. When I buy a ticket at a charity event I do it to support the cause rather than to win, (though very occasionally I do).
To the poster who suggested reporting to the charity commission, I don't think that they would rate investigating this 'fraud' as a priority. I say this as a trustee of two charities.

CarefreeMe · 01/12/2022 21:59

I’d be fuming!

So they didn’t actually put the winning tickets in at all?!

Did anyone win anything at all?

AHobbyaweek · 01/12/2022 22:11

I run tombolas for the PTA and it depends on how big the event and how it is run to whether they need to inform the local authority.
You can complain to your local authority (council) if you think it was unfair and they might investigate and also see if they should have had a licence for it or if they broke the rule.