ATTORNEY GENERAL OF MISSOURI

CHRIS KOSTER ATTORNEY GENERAL

JEFFERSON CITY
65102 RAFFLE INFORMATION

P.O. BOX 899 (573) 751-3321

In 1998, Missouri law was changed concerning raffles. Constitutional Amendment 8 was approved to allow an organization recognized as charitable or religious to sponsor sweepstakes and raffles. When Constitutional Amendment 8 was passed by the voters November 3, 1998, it added a new section to the Missouri Constitution, Article III Section 39(f). That section states: "Any organization recognized as charitable or religious pursuant to federal law may sponsor raffles and sweepstakes in which a person risks something of value for a prize. The general assembly may, by law, provide standards and conditions to regulate or guarantee the awarding of prizes provided for in such raffles or sweepstakes." Currently, there is no statute which provides standards and conditions to regulate raffles and sweepstakes. We, therefore turn to the commonly understood meaning of these terms. The commonly understood meaning of the term "raffle" is "a lottery in which each participant buys a ticket for an article put up as a prize with the winner being determined by a random drawing." (Webster's Third International Dictionary.) The question of whether an organization is "recognized as charitable or religious pursuant to federal law" must be answered on a case-by-case basis. This determination should be done with great caution, because the penalties for promoting a raffle not covered by this section remain high.

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