{"id":9676,"date":"2021-10-21T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-21T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zolo.ca\/news\/?p=9676"},"modified":"2022-06-21T14:53:43","modified_gmt":"2022-06-21T18:53:43","slug":"home-charity-lotteries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zolo.ca\/blog\/home-charity-lotteries","title":{"rendered":"Should You Gamble on a Home Using a Charity Lottery in 2021?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you enjoy gambling for big prizes, you have a lot of options in Canada. You could play the federal and provincial lotteries like the Lotto 6\/49. Alternatively, if you\u2019re looking for an experience, you could gamble at a racetrack or a casino. But if you\u2019d prefer that your gambling do good, your best bet would be to buy home charity lottery tickets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is a Charity Lottery?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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A charity lottery is any game of chance where a portion of the proceeds goes towards a charitable cause. Charity lotteries can be small, like a local 50\/50 draw at a hockey arena in Abbotsford<\/a>, BC. But charity lotteries can also be huge, with prizes like homes and cars. An excellent example of a mega charity lottery would be a home charity lottery. Home charity lotteries typically give away a house, condo, or cottage as the grand prize. They also have various smaller prizes including cars, vacations, merchandise, and cash. Home charity lotteries are a popular way for hospitals and other charitable organizations to raise money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charity lotteries are popular because lottery operators believe more Canadians will buy tickets if some of the proceeds go to charity. While this may be true, research shows mega-lotteries are not the most efficient way to donate money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Much do Home Charity Lotteries Benefit Their Causes?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re considering buying home charity lottery tickets, you may wonder what percentage of your money goes to the charity. Fortunately, there are organizations in Canada dedicated to finding this information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A survey<\/a> of 30 home charity lotteries in Canada showed that, on average, 27% of each dollar goes toward funding charity programs. The survey was conducted by Kate Bah-en and her team of financial analysts at Charity Intelligence. This Toronto-based organization crunches data and financials to help donors determine where their dollars can have the most impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related content<\/p>

Home Lottery Database for 2021<\/a><\/p><\/section>\n\n\n\n

Bahen and her team found that the rest of the revenue pays for prizes and marketing and operational expenses. In contrast, the average amount of donations retained from other fundraising methods by the same charities was 72%. That\u2019s a 45% difference between home charity lotteries and other types of fundraising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But lottery operators aren\u2019t competing for the donations of regular charitable givers. Instead, charity lottery operators use home charity lotteries to appeal to Canadians who otherwise might not donate at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barbara Baarsma, the co-author of <\/span>Better Chances for Charities<\/em><\/span><\/a>, a report commissioned by the Dutch National Postcode Lottery, asserts that charities benefit from mega-lottery fundraising because it opens up a new, untapped revenue stream for organizations and causes. Plus, as Baarsma points out, \u201ccharity lotteries may also benefit in terms of increased brand awareness and knowledge [and] this can trigger lottery participants to give (more) direct donations to charity organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMany lottery ticket purchasers view the charity lottery as a combination of philanthropy and gambling. To appeal to the gambler, some charities emphasize the limited number of tickets or the high odds of winning a prize, thus making the lottery odds seem favourable.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>

– Kate Bahen, <\/strong>Charity Intelligence (Ci)<\/strong><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

How Charity Lotteries Attract Ticket Buyers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

These mega-lotteries need to get creative to capture some of Canadians\u2019 estimated $750 million donations to charity lotteries each year. As a result, charity lotteries spend a significant portion of their operating budget getting the attention of Canadians who otherwise would not donate to any charitable cause. That\u2019s why you\u2019ll see full-colour, glossy advertisements in the mail and why you hear or see ads on radio or TV – because they are attention-getting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are two factors that charity lotteries use to attract Canadians and entice them to hand over their hard-earned cash:<\/p>\n\n\n\n