Facebook and 'Lucky Dips'

YoJoJo

Not sure where to post this thread, so I'm trying here. Apologies if it needs moving elsewhere.

I have come across pages on Facebook where items are 'lucky dipped' i.e. the organisers of the page have an item that can be won by the participants. Entry can be anything from 25p to a few pounds. Participants enter by picking a number from 1 to 50, for example, and once all 50 numbers have been allocated and monies paid (to PayPal by Gift/Family & Friends payment), a random number generator is used to draw the winner.

Is this legal? I have no problem with it at all (assuming profits are declared to HMRC and it's all above-board) and actually quite like the idea of running my own type of page (for self-profit) but I'm not sure how I would stand legally and how PayPal would feel about possibly hundreds of small payments every week, all from 'friends & family'.

Does anyone here have any experience with these Lucky Dips, or can offer advice on the legal side of things? Thanks in advance.

dannny_2

YoJoJo wrote: »

a random number generator is used to draw the winner.

As in random number that my mate has. If it was legit they would go with the bonus ball number on the lottery on, say, Wednesday 4th September 2013, not a "random number".

ballisticbrian

You need a license to run a lottery.

YoJoJo

Thank you both for your replies. The bonus ball number is much more legit dannny. Thanks ballistricbrian, will look into it.

zerog

Paypal does not permit gambling payments. Best to use cash for this sort of thing.

emerald_starcat

I have seen many too and they are called 'raffles' where you pay £1 and the winner gets picked at random. I always wondered what the page owner actually got out of it as I thought the price was always the amount of what everyone had paid.

Strapped

It can be legal if the page owner has registered to hold a lottery (raffle) but the whole "random number" thing is so open to abuse. Personally, I'm always amazed anyone enters. I did actually once "win" a prize from a FB page (not a raffle, but an incentive for the nth liker of the page)...and never received anything. Which I wasn't that surprised about lol.

paddyrg

emerald_starcat wrote: »

I have seen many too and they are called 'raffles' where you pay £1 and the winner gets picked at random. I always wondered what the page owner actually got out of it as I thought the price was always the amount of what everyone had paid.

A guaranteed sale of something at retail price that they paid wholesale for/found/was given/stole!

There was a spate of people trying to 'raffle' their homes - overvaluing them and selling the equivalent volume of tickets. All makes sense when you look at it that way :-)

YoJoJo

I think I'll steer clear of this. Even if I had a Gambling License, etc, it would be a pain in the bum sorting out how to collect payments if PayPal don't permit that sort of payment. Thanks for all the insights everyone.

Jen_Jen1985

I am a member of a couple of different Facebook dip groups.
They use things like pingit or eventbrite website for payment, to avoid problems with paypal. On the occasion that paypal has been used it has been a rule on the pages I use that the buyer pays for goods/services and covers the paypal fees.
The items that are raffelled off are all from small businesses at the same price they would usually sell for. I have entered a few and won twice.

eggybread1

Raffles are legal if it is for charity. Anything else in operation that doesn't use the aforementioned bonus ball idea, is to me.. a fix !