This is long. Apologies, but if you care about young people and gambling addictions and the adrenaline rush and instant gratification that is online gambling and the resulting doom loop that ruins lives then please bear with me. And thanks for reading.
Why does the gambling commission not clamp down more on these dodgy raffle sites dressed up as 'competitons'? Especially when there is such a gambling addiction epidemic among young people.
I've looked at loads of them and I can't see how they are operating legally. They basically charge for tickets to enter to win prizes. In order to not be classed as gambling they are supposed to:
Make you answer a genuinely challenging question so it can be called a skills based competition. Most of them don't bother and even if they do, the answer can be googled.
Offer a genuinely free route to entry. But they disqualify unstamped, hand posted entries so that the cost of postage is often more expensive than the cost online of the ticket. Blatant disregard of the rules.
Make sure that the details of the 'free' entry route are equally as well promoted as the paid online entry route. They don't. They bury it or make it deliberately complicated to find and understand and then hard to comply to their entry rules.
They insist on a load of personal info put on a postcard which must not be in an envelope so there is no privacy with your bank details, DOB etc. They say that there is no limit to the amount of tickets you can buy online, but they also say that 'bulk free entries' will not be accepted.
They deliberately time their their prize draws to start late at night and end around 11am or 12 noon maybe three days later. This means that anyone who has opted to post the 'free' entry rather than paying to enter online has virtually no chance of the posted entry arriving and being processed in time, even with a first class stamp or a recorded delivery letter. That alone is blatant disregard of the rules. They say that sending an entry by recorded or registered post which is received well before the time of the draw is not a guarantee that the entry will be processed in time and that they will not enter into an enquiry with you about it. How on earth can it not be a guarantee of being entered? They are surely legally committed to making it so, if it has been proven to arrive on their registered premises in time. They also don't say what the 'cut off time' for processing a manual entry in time for the draw even is. Just that they have one.
They increasingly run certain 'competitons' which are 'instant wins' or 'immediate cash payouts' to the value of the prize, instead of taking the prize. Or 'Power Hours' where they raffle something big for one hour only and the winner is selected that night. This obviously makes the 'free' entry postal route an impossibility. They've started doing cash prizes without any option of a physical prize. Call it what you like but it's simply gambling to win money.
They obviously make money out of receiving payment for entries. If the raffle prize has a face value of £250 and it cost them say £150 to buy a prize with trade discount, then they sell 250 tickets at £2.50 each, then even if the raffle is undersold, their profit margin is enormous compared to someone legitimately selling that product to a customer as a retailer.
If they don't have a trade account with the company that sells the prize they will buy it at discount through arrangements with people who have access to trade accounts for those products. They don't buy those prizes up front. They advertise stuff they don't yet own, then wait for someone to win it, then buy it afterwards and have it sent out to the winner. In the small print there is always the caveat that if they can't source that specific prize they will give a cash prize (of slightly lower amount than the face value of the prize) instead.
One of these sites I pay particular attention to is related to a hobby / interest which attracts a lot of youngsters. I know for a fact that they have targeted these youngsters in the town where the company is based by appearing to do good deeds for the community, donating products, sponsorships, supporting local clubs etc, but all with their company name plastered over their merchandise and sharing these good deeds on social media. It's very cynical, they are not a charity based raffle company per se, it's all for profit.
I've seen them on social media at an event they sponsored actually giving out their branded t-shirts to children and teens. Clearly manufactured in sizes to fit young teens. These have the name of their 'competition' company on it, which is basically a gambling company. And the goods they raffle are directly related to this hobby that attracts lots of youngsters. How can this be right?
This company say on their website that they have signed up to a code of good conduct to protect people from spending money they can't afford and making sure that entrants are all over 18. But I know for a fact they don't adhere to the basic legal rules of being a genuine 'competition' with genuine 'free entry' so how can anyone have faith that they check every card payment they get to be sure each entrant is over 18? I don't see how they can, whatever they might say.
Also, if it's just a 'competition' and not a raffle/lottery/gambling, why would you need to make sure entrants are over 18 in the first place? And why blather on about things that sound identical to the 'gamble aware' messages?
I've looked on the government website where you can report them, but all you can do is upload your objections with any evidence you have and then sit back and have absolutely no idea whether they have been investigated or not. You don't get any feedback on the outcome.
If there are so many of these companies operating the same way, exploiting loopholes in plain sight and disregarding the rules and the law even within the bounds of these loopholes, in order to avoid being taxed and regulated as gambling companies, why is the government not working to clamp down on them?
It's like all the money laundering shops. We all know who and where they are and how they operate. Why are the authorities so slow and so reluctant to act, when it's happening right under their noses?
Anyone can see from looking at this specific website I am talking about that they are not operating within the law and the rules. It's clear that as soon as they are made to, their whole business model would fail and they'd fold. So why isn't it someone's job to just close these websites down with immediate effect and not allow them to operate again until they comply to the law?
I find it staggering and completely exasperating.