CHM Lottery -FINAL DAYS ! GET IN ON THIS NOW !!!

I hope I don't get shot down on this one... 

I came up with a crazy idea where members here at CHM could score some great albums for FREE (kinda).
This idea kinda came to me since I went on disability and haven't had the spending money I used to have.

Have you:
Been wanting to get some new albums but haven't had the money ?
Been wanting a boxed set ?
Been wanting that rare album that costs too much ?

Here's what we do - 
Each month, members who agree to this and enter into the "lottery" will be eligible for the cash pot after all participants put their cash in.

The details could be discussed and worked out, but I was thinking a handful of willing participants here could each put a 5 dollar bill into the "cash pot" each month.
I could be the "handler" (or we could vote on someone to be the "handler"), and each participant would mail a $5 bill to the handler. At the end of the month, each person's name who submitted would be put into a drawing (filmed so that it's completely fair). The name drawn would be sent an electronic Amazon Gift Card with every last penny on it.

  FOR EXAMPLE:
December's Lotto =

Abraham -5 bucks
Hezekiah -5 bucks
Jebediah -5 bucks
Samuel -5 bucks
Tobias -5 bucks
Esther -5 bucks
Noah -5 bucks
Gabriel -5 bucks
Jude -5 bucks
Gideon -5 bucks 

10 people submitted for December's lotto = 50 bucks.
While being filmed, all 10 names go into a hat and one gets drawn.
The winner gives me (or whoever) their email address, and I send an AMAZON e-gift for 50 dollars to them.
The winner cries, gives a speech, and scores something they've been wanting for a long time.
THEN, it starts all over again in January.  If only 9 people submit that month, then only those 9 get to be in the lottery. 
As the "handler", I would be exempt from winning. Which may be a good idea to change hands every month to someone else... Also another issue would be how to prevent the same person from winning over and over... it'd be cool if everyone could get a chance to win eventually.  Maybe instead of a "lottery", the money could be gathered and we could just choose winners alphabetically... course that takes away from the anticipation and fun, but it'd be more fair... then what if 10 people do it in December, but only 6 do it in January... there's no consistency there...

IF YOU'RE OUT OF THE STATES, BUT STILL WANT TO GET IN ON THIS, JUST PAYPAL ME THE 5 DOLLARS AND IF YOU WIN, I CAN STILL SEND AN AMAZON E-GIFT CARD TO YOU ELECTRONICALLY !
This way, EVERYONE gets to participate !

Interesting, will give it some thought.

I'd do it.  I would be both part of the lottery sometimes and the money holder.  If anyone has any doubts about my ability to be honest with the money, just ask Fundy about that.  He sent me a boat load of cash a few years ago to buy some Disciple stuff.  For some reason, their shipping costs were a lot higher than what it cost to have stuff shipped to me and then on to Fundy in the UK.  Needless to say, he got his stuff.

I have also had Yvonne do "CD swaps".  She'd buy something that was only available in Europe and send it to me.  I'd buy a CD of her choice available here and ship it to her.  I have a reputation with a few members of being responsible with other people's money.

So, like I said, I would be willing to play or to hold.

I don't think there's any doubts about the honesty of our pillar members.

What we need are more suggestions as to how we can do this.  What would be the best method ?  How can we get as many people to get in on the raffle and yet also be fair to each member, giving each participant an opportunity to win the money pot eventually ?

Need some brains to come together on this.... not to mention more people = we've only got 15 bucks so far... anyone else ?

Count me in.  However I know that some members here are strapped for cash...it would be nice if those with a bit more money could maybe kick in $10 anonymously (when they could) so that at least some of those strapped for cash could still be included (maybe G/F could handle this with pms so those who are strapped for spare spending money don't have to feel embarrassed by asking to join in the thread...maybe).  Just trying to keep you from having too much free time on your hands my friend. 

I don't want to handle any of the money....It's not that I'm dishonest...I'm just selfish....I don't want the added responsibility. 

Guilty/Forgiven wrote:

 
As the "handler", I would be exempt from winning. Which may be a good idea to change hands every month to someone else... 

You could still handle the money but let someone else pull the name out of the hat....good idea would be to have the previous winner pull the name for the new month.

I think it'd be fun!  I don't know about having different ticket prices though.  I think all tickets should be the same price.  But should we have it so someone could buy multiple tickets (like the normal lottery) to increase your chances?

All good suggestions ! 
Tentatively we're up to 25 bucks in the cash pot. More is better 

Yes Kerrick, I do believe if someone were to kick in 10 bucks, then their name should go in twice. No one needs to know they bought 2 raffles, it just is what it is.

Course everyone needs to realize (and I feel I don't really hafta say this, since we got such a great bunch of people here) that if someone tosses in 2 tickets, it's no guarantee they'll get picked out of a hat... and I wouldn't want anyone who gave more to be upset they haven't won yet.

So the idea of buying multiple raffle ticks may be something we could vote on.  

We definitely need some ground rules for this so that there's no possibility of anyone getting upset for any reason.  We need to all do this with a giving heart, and be happy for the winners each month.

Now, again, help me out with some ground rules.
* Should we keep this going every month ? Or just do this as a one time thing ?
* Should we not allow a winner to win more than once (or at least until every participant has won) ? And if we do it this way, we'd need winners to stay on board even though they know they're not gonna win the next few months- is this reasonable ?  If a winner takes their cash pot Amazon e-gift and then doesn't participate after that, then the next pot will be less.  But like I said, the winner would know they're putting 5 bucks into a pot that they will not win (at least until next time around).
* Is everyone ok with wrapping up a 5 dollar bill and mailing it USPS ? (again, it's only 5 bucks... which is the beauty of a raffle - a 5 dollar gamble to possibly win 30 or 40 bucks in Amazon purchases)
* Even out of country members could participate - however, we wouldn't be able to do anything with foreign currency, nor would it be wise to mail currency across the oceans or tundras. Any thoughts on International participants ?
* Anyone else thinking this through and coming up with other thoughts or ideas ?

If everyone is on paypal it might be a way to deal with the foriegn currency issue (although paypal will take their bite).  Just a thought, maybe make it $6 (or whatever) to cover the paypal fees.  IDK, just an idea.
If $5 each month is too much for most people maybe we could do it every other month, again just an idea.

Sure. Good idea.  I didn't even think of Paypal.  Really we're only talking about 5 to 6 bucks if this is the case.  It would work out well. Anyone anywhere could Paypal the small amount to me and I'll add them to the pot. Good idea !  Then when all participants have thrown in their booty, we can begin to do a drawing for a winner. 

I'm liking this idea more and more. I see great things coming out of this. I mean, who can't afford to sacrifice an Abraham Lincoln once a month ???  That's a starbucks drink for goodness sakes ! LOL

I think this will be FUN, EXCITING, and helpful for those who have been wanting an album or albums that are a bit pricey. 

* Now, the winner will receive every last penny in the form of an Amazon gift card.  I ask this:  Should the winner be able to buy anything they want ? Or should this contest restrict the winner(s) to purchase music only ?

* Also, should we require the winner to post what they buy ?  Or is that neither here nor there ?

When I get more answers and input from ya'all, I'll have a better understanding of the ground rules.
Then we can get this party started !

kerrick wrote:

I think it'd be fun!  I don't know about having different ticket prices though.  I think all tickets should be the same price.  But should we have it so someone could buy multiple tickets (like the normal lottery) to increase your chances?

I don't think so.  Besides, if we did that, someone could have so many entries that it would be nearly impossible for someone else to win.

We also need to consider the legality of this.  I know that a lot of people do sideline betting, but is this legal in our state?  Games of chance for monetary wins, other than our state lottery, are against the law in Tennessee.  I don't know how big it has to be before the state would even care, though.

I was told $500 dollars or more is when the state steps in and makes a fuss.  We will definitely NOT be coming anywhere near that, probably not even 100 bucks.

My brother attempted to do a raffle for his customized truck back in the late 80s, and they told him that he can only do a raffle like that if he got a permit as well as paid full taxes on the raffle money. So he ended up selling it as everyone else does.  They told him if it was under 500 dollars in total raffle tickets, then he'd be ok... but obviously he wanted more than that for his mega-customized truck.

So there's no problem with our miniscule donation type deal we have going here. Just can't let it exceed 500 bucks   (like that could happen !)

Personally, I won't be in, for a few reasons. Not because I believe raffles are wrong, but I don't really buy new music online anymore, at least not for the moment.

Well, looks like we only have 4 for sures ($20 bucks)
GF 
Alldat
Staybrite
Kerrick

If we could get 2 more peeps in on this, it'd be worthwhile.  Perhaps we could outsource ?    Do you know anyone who's not on CHM that would be interested ?

I could do it as well.

Yee-haw !! $25 winnings !

Ok, so I'm gonna give this until the end of this week.  On Friday, hopefully we'll have 1 or more peeps on board with this.

Whether we have more or not, we'll go forward on Friday.
I will give my mailing address to each participant, and a 5 dollar bill can be carefully wrapped in an envelope, so as to not be detectable if someone holds it up to the light, then everyone can mail them away !

Once I receive the final Lincoln, I shall come up with a clever way to have someone here draw the winning name on a thread. 
I will then create an Amazon e-gift card for the total amount and send it to the winner.

Gee what fun !!!