Buisness idea - is there anything like this/could it work?

[callmedave]

Hello all,

Had a thought about a possible business idea but id like to know if there is anything else like it, and if you think it could work.

Basically its a raffle site, you pay £1 and you get put in to a draw to win an item (could be an iphone, holiday, tv, vouchers etc)

once enough tickets have been bought to cover the cost of the item (plus say 10%) the draw is held and the winner announced.

people can purchase as many tickets as they want and increase their chances.


Ive seen the likes of madbid, but that works in a different kind of way, you pay and then bid. If there is a way to handle the payments without a fee (or very small fee) then it should work?

I welcome your criticisms/comments on this...

Tom.

[marshalla]

Start here and see if it can be done legally : http://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/Gambling-sect...

[blueg33]

Surely what you describe would be a lottery and subject to gaming/gambling rules.

You can buy raffle tickets online to win a car

[callmedave]

marshalla said:

Start here and see if it can be done legally : http://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/Gambling-sect...

gamblingcommissin said:

Lotteries (also known as raffles) cannot be run for private or commercial gain.

And

• Make no profit (ie all the proceeds are used for
reasonable expenses and prizes)
• Or be to raise funds for a charity or good cause.

Thank you for the link,

So do Camelot not make a profit?

rules state you can do it if you take a 'reasonable expense' - can this be a wage? and the rest goes to charity/good cause?

[callmedave]

blueg33 said:

Surely what you describe would be a lottery and subject to gaming/gambling rules.

You can buy raffle tickets online to win a car

got a link to this?

[callmedave]

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/617090/National-L...

Camelot made £71m profit last year.

Id be happy if i made another £100 a week!

[Glasgowrob]

plenty groups on facebook doing this, one locally doing about 3/4 draws a week must be easily clearing a grand a week in profit,

doing shopping vouchers booze hampers etc etc

[callmedave]

Glasgowrob said:

plenty groups on facebook doing this, one locally doing about 3/4 draws a week must be easily clearing a grand a week in profit,

doing shopping vouchers booze hampers etc etc

Got a Link please?

[technodup]

AFAIK it needs to have a competitive element to get around the lottery rule.

Like this https://www.botb.com/HowToWin

[callmedave]

technodup said:

AFAIK it needs to have a competitive element to get around the lottery rule.

Like this https://www.botb.com/HowToWin

Yes I see, a game of skill determines the winner - therefore no chance involved, means its not a lottery.

so it could be a 'guess how many sweets in the jar' type thing to enter.

winner bags a iphone or ps4 etc.

[blueg33]

callmedave said:

blueg33 said:

Surely what you describe would be a lottery and subject to gaming/gambling rules.

You can buy raffle tickets online to win a car

got a link to this?

Here you go http://www.botb.com/?gclid=CNDv26mWgswCFXMz0wodg6M...

ps. Google will work for you too!

[marshalla]

callmedave said:

Thank you for the link,

So do Camelot not make a profit?

rules state you can do it if you take a 'reasonable expense' - can this be a wage? and the rest goes to charity/good cause?

National Lottery is subject to different rules because it was instigated by the government.

[Glasgowrob]

callmedave said:

Got a Link please?

first one i found


https://www.facebook.com/groups/718260634951744/?f...

[callmedave]

Ok,

So ive done a little more research into this and as mentioned above, a prize giveaway based on chance cannot make a profit.

A prize give away based on skill (BOTB) can make a profit.

so im thinking of products less than say £100, with a £1 or £2 entry, limited number of tickets per item - enough to cover the cost and a little extra. A simple question must be answered to enter, 'name the car' or something related to the product then a winner is drawn using a random number generator and product is sent to winner.


I can set up a pretty straight forward Ecommerce site on WIX for around 15 p/m.

What do you think?

[jammy_basturd]

Add a "pyramid" element to it and you'd probably be on to something - so entrants get more "tickets" if they get other people to enter as well. Gets other people to do most of your marketing for you.

Not sure it's something I'd want to set up on a moral basis though.

[callmedave]

Not interested in 'pyramid' but I do like the idea of 'recommend a friend, get another entry'
I just price it accordingly so it works

[megapixels83]

With BOTB what happens if all tickets do not sell are you as an entrant refunded or does BOTB just make a loss on that competition.

[CrouchingWayne]

This is quite interesting - I assume this is the reason when I was a kid they always wanted you to answer a ridiculously simple question when doing a phone in?

Do you still need a license to do a skill based lottery or is it away from those rules now it's a game of "skill"?

[callmedave]

CrouchingWayne said:

This is quite interesting - I assume this is the reason when I was a kid they always wanted you to answer a ridiculously simple question when doing a phone in?

Do you still need a license to do a skill based lottery or is it away from those rules now it's a game of "skill"?

In brief: if its a lottery, your not allowed to make a profit. It its a game where someone could get the answer wrong (regrdless of how easy it is; what colour is an orange) then it's a prize draw. These are pretty much open to how you want to do them.

I need to work out the best way to get people's attention and get them to enter, also handle the payments and draws, but legal wise it's pretty straight forward.

[technodup]

Glasgowrob said:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/718260634951744/?f...

I've joined that group and I don't get it.

Limited entrants, 20 or 100 seem common. People buy numbers on the list, pub bonus ball style. Payment by Paypal and draw is done once everyone's paid, items drop shipped presumably from China.

BUT, the prizes look like utter tat, the entry fees are as low as 5p and I can't see how it makes any money. So either it's just a bit of fun to cover exes or it's an illegal lottery that doesn't make much cash.

If someone took a bit of BOTB's model and applied it here they could run riot. Unless I'm missing something.