What is the legal difference between a lottery and a raffle?
Question by olivergringold: What is the legal difference between a lottery and a raffle?
There are lots of free-to-enter online “lotteries” supported by ads. Are these legally considered lotteries? I thought it was only legal to start one if you were a government or charity. If it isn’t legally a lottery, can the name of the website still include words like “lotto,” “lottery,” or other similar terms?
Best answer:
Answer by Daze
Lottery’s have to have some sort of govermnetal connection/sponsorship/tax-movement.
Private industry uses raffles.
Raffles are something that are usually held by a non-profit group, like a church. A lottery is something a state or country would run.
lotteries may only be operated by the state, and raffles are operated by an organization, and regulated by the state.
there are also structure differences, if me and you play the same numbers in a lotto, we both win/split a prize. In a raffle, there can only be 1 winner (per prize).
Early lotteries that sold numbered tickets were in fact raffles. In lottery today you get to make your own luck by selecting your own numbers. Free lotteries that are run professionally are legal because they are free. You can not run your own lottery for consideration, but if you want to run one at no cost to the players and give prizes away, there is nothing illegal about that. Some states do regulate sweepstakes such as Florida and New York where a bond must be posted as proof the prize can be paid, most free lotteries are not valid in those states.