State bill would allow raffles at sports events
In California, you can’t legally bet on the game, but soon you may be able to bet at the game. A bill approved by the California State Assembly earlier this month would allow “50/50” charity raffles at sports events, including baseball, football and basketball games.
Here how it would work: If a team decides to participate, it could set up a raffle in which 50 percent of the money collected is awarded as cash prizes. The other 50 percent would go to charitable groups affiliated with the team.
These raffles have become popular in several U.S. states. A proposition passed in California in 2000 allows raffles where 90 percent of the funds go to the charity, but these haven’t caught on because the small amount of funds remaining for cash awards hasn’t been enticing.
“As we are losing nonprofits across the state because of (the) lack of contributions made to them, I thought this would be a nice vehicle to give them an uptick,” the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Isadore Hall, D-Compton, told the Sacramento Bee. “You can raise significant resources for nonprofits when you have a sporting event where you have a lot of folks present.”
Gov. Brown has until Oct. 11 to act on the bill, said his deputy press secretary, Deborah Hoffman. The governor generally doesn’t comment on pending legislation, she said. But given the bill’s overwhelming support in the Legislature, it appears likely he’ll sign it.
The Sacramento Kings are among the teams that support sports raffles. “This would give us a chance to help more and give more and galvanize the giving spirit of our fans when they’re at a game,” Scott Moak, executive director of the Sacramento Kings Foundation, told the Bee.
Though the bill didn’t receive a single dissenting vote in the state Senate and was approved by the Assembly 56-3, it has faced some opposition.
“It creates charity haves and have-nots at the whims of owners of professional sports teams and their foundations,” said Jennifer Fearing, a lobbyist for the California Association of Nonprofits.
There are some valid concerns about these types of raffles, but big donors, whether wealthy individuals or philanthropic groups, already are kingmakers when it comes to charities.
The bottom line: These raffles should give sports fans an enjoyable diversion at games and raise a lot of money for worthy organizations. So what’s not to like?