Question
: We have a school site that sells candy as an ASB fund- raiser. As an incentive for the students to participate in the fund- raiser, each student’s name, no matter how many candy bars they sell, goes into a basket. Student’s names are drawn and these students then go into a money booth where money is being blown around, the student tries to catch as many dollar bills as possible. The student keeps the dollar bills they collect. The question is would this activity be considered a lottery or game of chance or not considered to be an appropriate activity for ASB?Response: The basic rules for ASB fund-raisers is that they should be for the benefit of the entire group (club, class, team, etc.), and should contribute to the student’s educational experience. Also, students who participate and/or make contributions to the fund-raising must do so voluntarily; students cannot be required to participate in fund-raising events, and cannot be excluded from an activity because they did not participate in the fund-raiser. In fact, court cases have challenged districts on this issue and won.
First of all, what you are describing above would not be classified as a lottery or a game of chance as it’s really not "paying for a chance to win something of value". This is rather an incentive.
But, since only those students participating in the fund-raiser are able to participate in the "money booth", you do have a potential issue as those students who are not selling candy will be excluded. This is a potential issue if challenged. Also, providing cash to students is never recommended since you do not have control over what the students may purchase with the cash. And, providing cash to students can be perceived as a gift of public funds.
8/19/08
