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St. Thomas Law Review

First Page

429

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Bev and Jim have so much to be thankful for. You see, their youngest daughter, Samantha, was born with Turner's syndrome. Turner's syndrome, without getting too medically complicated, sentences a child to a life of being too short.' The prospect for Samantha to be in the normal range of height was not good. Bev and Jim then turned to the Human Growth Foundation for help. Through the work of this Foundation and the extraordinary commitment of these parents to the Foundation and their child, Samantha was able to receive human growth hormone injections. These injections coupled with other treatment have enabled Samantha to live not only a normal but remarkable life. Now a little over five-feet tall, Samantha, an honor student in high school and in college, is a medical doctor finishing her residency at a local hospital. A phenomenal tribute to the perseverance and courage of a mother, father and child! In the hopes of repaying their debt for all of the help, support and encouragement Bev, Jim and Samantha received, they set up the S Foundation, a non-profit foundation named after Samantha, to aid children afflicted with Turner's Syndrome and their families. Much like other foundations, Bev, Jim and Samantha's goal was to provide a summer camp opportunity for these children and their families. Created in Florida, the S Foundation complied with all of the state registration requirements as well as the Internal Revenue Service regulations to become a non-profit foundation that could engage in fundraising activities. Calling on a friend who owns a car dealership, Bev and Jim secured a fully loaded sports car for a fraction of the retail cost of the car. They then ventured to set up and publicize a raffle drawing for the car. The idea was to sell 1,000 raffle tickets at $100 per ticket. By selling all of the tickets, participants would have a reasonable chance at winning the car and the S Foundation would net a healthy profit to be used for the summer camp program. Bev and Jim thought if they could succeed with just two or three of these raffles that many children and their families would benefit. Bev and Jim spent a lot of their spare time traveling to shopping malls, events and exhibitions setting up their booth to sell raffle tickets. And they sold tickets! Then one afternoon while staffing their ticket booth, a potential raffle ticket buyer approached the booth and requested the remaining raffle tickets. Bev and Jim could not believe their good fortune and thanked the buyer. Bev then told the buyer that with 500 tickets remaining, the cost to receive the tickets would be $50,000. The buyer then said he would not pay $50,000 for the tickets and, in fact, by law, was entitled to the 500 tickets without paying any money. Bev and Jim were dumbfounded. To their knowledge, after speaking with lawyers and state government officials, they had never heard of such a law. This potential raffle ticket buyer then said that if Bev and Jim did not give him the remaining raffle tickets for free right then, he would contact the police department, have the raffle shut down, and put Bev and Jim in jail. Now, Bev and Jim were not only dumbfounded but also a little scared. They shut down the car raffle immediately but declined to give this person any raffle tickets. It turns out that this particular potential raffle ticket buyer was acting on a tip from another person who was affiliated with a different charitable foundation who happened upon Bev and Jim's foundation raffle. It seems that the tipster's foundation had also been hassled by another charitable foundation in the same way, resulting in the termination of their raffle. The sad truth is that, under Florida law, this potential raffle ticket buyer and the tipster got it right! Bev and Jim, by law, must give away, without any donation or purchase, the remaining raffle tickets to whoever requests them! No good deed goes unpunished! The purpose of this article is to figure out how such a result could be sanctioned by law. The first part of this article will provide a brief description of lotteries or "games of chance" throughout history. The second part of this article will overview Florida law concerning the operation of raffles or other games of chance by charitable organizations. This section will specifically focus on the unusual "catch 22" provisions in the Florida statutes dealing with the purchase of raffle tickets. The third and concluding part of this article will suggest a solution to the problem created by the Florida law.

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