Holiday Giveaways Face Strict Registration Rules

The Lotteries Committee is making it clear that registration isn’t optional. Even raffles for schools, churches, or medical fundraisers qualify for free licenses, but they still must be registered. And here’s a warning: if you’re running an unregistered raffle, you could face fines of up to ten thousand dollars for a first offense, double that if you do it again. Consumers are also being urged to check that any raffle they enter is legal.

 

Lewin Samuels, Secretary, Lotteries Committee

“Raffles are from the small persons, anybody doing raffle before five hundred dollars gets a free license, you also have bazars, NGOS that does promotions to support whatever service they offer and they are also given a free license, which is mandated by law, NGOs, schools for bazars and so forth are issued a license but free of charge, churches, medical expenses, they are all given free of charge, but you just have to register. And that is stated right there in the lotteries control act, section two, it gives authorities to children under sixteen years to sell tickets. If you look at the regular process it talks about nobody enter here under the age of eighteen. So you as a consumer should ask the individual, is this lottery legal, did you register with the Lotteries Committee, because it is you making a decision to purchase by not asking pertinent questions, so you cannot come to the Lotteries Committee for protection if that raffle is not registered. In terms of fine, I think the first offense is something like ten thousand and with a second offense it doubles.”

 

Paul Lopez

“So, you could end up losing way more than what you raffled.”

 

Lewin Samuels

“Exactly.”