RCoW Community Raffle declared great success

The Rural City of Wangaratta Community Raffle was drawn by the Mayor on 21 June 2006. The draw took place at a free lunchtime barbecue in front of the Town Hall. Approximately 100 people representing groups who had been involved in, or who had assisted with, the raffle were present.

The winner of the first prize, a Nissan Tiida ST sedan provided by Wangaratta Nissan was Rees, Stockdale and Leggo of Wangaratta. The winning ticket was sold by NESAY. The winner of the second prize, a holiday in New Zealand provided by Harvey World Travel was won by Stephen Hoskins of Oxley. This ticket was sold by the Wangaratta Bicycle Users Group.

Overall, $59,086 was raised for by 110 community groups with all proceeds from each ticket being retained by the groups. Income per group varied from $40 to $5,034. Larger groups generally were more likely to raise more money, but some very small groups also raised a significant amount.

In preparation, 60,000 tickets were printed with 43,820 distributed to clubs. Of these, 12,205 were returned unsold and 2072 were declared lost. All clubs were asked to provide statutory declarations regarding any missing tickets.

Clubs were generally more conservative in their estimate of the number of tickets they could sell than they were in the previous raffle and also more efficient in recording sales and returning tickets.

While the clubs were able to retain all income from sales, the Office of Gaming Regulation required this money had to be returned to Council for distribution, which did not occur in the previous raffle. This money has since been redistributed. Due to gaming legislation, Council is not able to auspice the raffle. Once again, Council entered into an agreement with the Rotary Club of Appin Park, who acted as auspice.

The raffle is being audited by the Office of Gaming Regulation, who noted that ambiguities were caused by the auspicing arrangements. It may be appropriate for Council to lobby the Minister to have the legislation changed.

Council has received a great deal of positive feedback on the initiative from the
groups involved in the raffle. The initiative has met with a very enthusiastic esponse from community groups which has been positive for Council. The Council intends to hold a further Rural City of Wangaratta Community Raffle to raise funds for community groups between February and May 2007.


































































I
n preparation, 60,000 tickets were printed with 43,820 distributed to clubs. Of
these, 12,205 were returned unsold and 2072 were declared lost. All clubs were
asked to provide statutory declarations regarding any missing tickets.
I
ssues
Clubs were generally more conservative in their estimate of the number of tickets
they could sell than they were in the previous raffle and also more efficient in
recording sales and returning tickets.
While the clubs were able to retain all income from sales, the Office of Gaming
Regulation required this money had to be returned to Council for distribution,
which did not occur in the previous raffle. This money has since been
redistributed.
Due to gaming legislation, Council is not able to auspice the raffle. Once again,
Council entered into an agreement with the Rotary Club of Appin Park, who acted
as auspice.
The raffle is being audited by the Office of Gaming Regulation, who noted that
ambiguities were caused by the auspicing arrangements. It may be appropriate
for Council to lobby the Minister to have the legislation changed.