A raffle is a competition

Competition

Competition is a contest between individuals, groups, animals, etc. for territory, a niche, or a location of resources. It arises whenever two and only two strive for a goal which cannot be shared. Competition occurs naturally between living organisms which co-exist in the same environment. For...

 in which people obtain numbered ticket

Ticket (admission)

A ticket is a voucher that indicates that one has paid for admission to an event or establishment such as a theatre, movie theater, amusement park, zoo, museum, concert, or other attraction, or permission to travel on a vehicle such as an airliner, train, bus, or boat, typically because one has...

s, each ticket having the chance of winning a prize. At a set time, the winners are drawn from a container holding a copy of every number. The drawn tickets are checked against a collection of prizes with numbers attached to them, and the holder of the ticket wins the prize.

Originating in southern Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 , the raffle is a popular game in numerous countries and is often held to raise funds for a specific charity or event.

Process

A raffle often involves several different possible prizes that can be won, and a ticket will be drawn from the group at random for each of the prizes. In this manner, people were not buying tickets to win a specific prize, but for the possibility of winning any of the prizes, as the prizes do not have specific numbers attached. A ticket is drawn for the initial prize; that ticket is then left out of the container. A second ticket is then drawn for the next prize, and that ticket also is discarded, and so on. This continues until all prizes have been won.

A common practice for increasing revenue from ticket sales is to offer bulk sales of tickets, e.g., $1 per single ticket or $5 for six tickets. Players tend to spend more money on bulk tickets believing they have a much better chance of winning. Since the tickets cost little money to produce, and the prize expense has been set, the number of tickets sold creates little or no additional cost for the raffle holders.

Worldwide

In the United Kingdom, raffles occasionally are held to circumvent licensing laws. While only licensed premises are permitted to sell alcoholic beverage

Alcoholic beverage

An alcoholic beverage is a drink containing ethanol, commonly known as alcohol. Alcoholic beverages are divided into three general classes: beers, wines, and spirits. They are legally consumed in most countries, and over 100 countries have laws regulating their production, sale, and consumption...

s, there is no restriction on the offering of alcoholic beverages as prizes in raffles. At some events, attendees can enter a raffle where prize

Prize

A prize is an award to be given to a person or a group of people to recognise and reward actions or achievements. Official prizes often involve monetary rewards as well as the fame that comes with them...

s include alcoholic drink

Alcoholic beverage

An alcoholic beverage is a drink containing ethanol, commonly known as alcohol. Alcoholic beverages are divided into three general classes: beers, wines, and spirits. They are legally consumed in most countries, and over 100 countries have laws regulating their production, sale, and consumption...

(s). In the UK the term "tombola" is used when the raffle tickets are placed in a barrel and tumbled before the winning tickets are drawn from the barrel. The tombola booth is commonly used as a fund raising event for local fete

Fête

Fête is a French word meaning festival, celebration or party, which has passed into English as a label that may be given to certain events.-Description:It is widely used in England and Australia in the context of a village fête,...

s.

In Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, meat raffle

Meat Raffle

A meat raffle is a tradition of raffling off meat, often in pubs and bars, common in Britain, Australia, in the USA in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and in Western Canada...

s are commonplace in pubs and registered clubs. Trays of meat or seafood are raffled to raise money for a cause, often a local sporting club. Similar raffles are held in Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

.

Raffles are illegal in much of the United States, although many jurisdictions make an exception for raffles in which proceeds go to charity. However, many US lotteries have offered occasional raffle-style drawing games since the mid-2000s, namely players being able to send in losing lottery tickets in order to be raffled for special prizes.