Question:  At our middle school, the students buy dance tickets to attend the student body sponsored dance. The student body purchases items for the drawing that takes place at the dance. The students attending the dance can earn tickets for the drawing by playing games (something for students that don’t dance...they play the games and hang out with their friends). All students can earn drawing tickets. At the end of the dance there is a drawing for the items. Is this allowed?

Response: As you know, entertainment is a popular fund-raiser, and dances are a popular form of entertainment.  You’ve described a new twist on what a dance could encompass, which are games for those students who do not want to dance.  A very clever idea to have more students attend the dance . . . as you know, more students equals more revenue!!

In your question, you ask if it would be appropriate to purchase prizes for those games held at the dance.  The answer would be yes if those prizes are part of the planning and budget for that dance. The thought here is that students may still come to the dance to play games, and would be willing to pay the price of admission to do so. The prizes are part of the operating expenditures of the dance.

The next part of your question could cause issue.  Remember, school districts (and ASB’s) cannot hold raffles or games of chance.  In your example, all kids at the dance can play the games, but then only those winners who draw the right ticket will receive a prize.  A game of chance is defined as "paying for a chance to win". Part of the admission to the dance could be perceived as "paying for a chance to win", so we suggest that rather than handing out the prizes this way (i.e., via a drawing), forget the drawing and instead have a rule, for instance, if you win a certain amount of games, you get a prize.  There could be different levels of prizes depending on how many games you win. By not having a drawing, you eliminate the chance that someone will challenge the drawing/raffle and the potential of issues associated with raffles/drawings are eliminated. The rules are clear up front on how to win a prize and there is no chance involved . . . just skill by winning the right number of games.

1/12/09