250,000 house for $50 in Omaha
- Thread starter Amy
- Start date
BigRedJake
Starter
There was a raffle at Elitch Gardens one day I was there this summer for a free million dollar house. Tickets were 100 bucks each.
NamelessHusker
Banned
Amy, is this being raffled off or something? If so, how mcuh are raffle tickets and when is it being raffled off? You got more details?
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NamelessHusker
Banned
I just checked it out. It sounds like a scam in my opinion that is basically intended to raise money to pay off the churchs debt?
It doesn't even say what the cash prize is if they do not get enough ticket sales. People participating in the lottery are basically paying for the house and then some
5,250 tickets x $50 a ticket = $262,500
House is worth 250,000
Balance 12,500 dollars which goes to the church
Good scam none the less considering the church doesn't even own the house mentioned. The church must be working with a real estate agent to sell the house
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BigRedJake
Starter
You expect them to knowingly take a loss? I doubt the chance of winning will be so low they'll be able to afford insurance for such a thing. What's the point of doing something like this if you don't acctualy raise money? This isn't a scam, it's a normal lottery.
NamelessHusker
Banned
What loss are they taking? The house was a donation to the church. That's not a loss
BigRedJake
Starter
I didn't see that it was donated to the church, but if it was why would only 12,500 go to the chruch like you said?
NamelessHusker
Banned
Haha, good one DaveH.
Hack, there's a difference between generiousity and scamming people. In my opinion, this is borderline. So lets make up this scenario. Lets say the chuch only sells 4500 tickets instead of the 5250 tickets. Not only are they paying off the churchs debt and not giving away the house. They will then OWN the house (since its a donation ) and keep the rest for themselves after they give away a cash prize. Since the runner up prize is a 100,000 in cash prize, if they do not award the house if not enough tickets are sold, then i am willing to guess the "cash prize" as they put it would be what "25,000"? Maybe 50 if they are generous, thus still keeping 175,000 dollars and a 250,000 dollar house.
That's no different then me going out to different charities and saying "i have a 200,000 house (which i don't own) and i am raffeling it off, because i am so generous. But the stipulation is, i want at least 2000 tickets sold (at 50$ a ticket) before i award the house. So anything above 2,000 tickets i take in as commision (even though i didn't earn it since i really am not doing anything other then getting the word out there) and anything less, i keep the money
Doesn't matter how you twist it.
Hack, there's a difference between generiousity and scamming people. In my opinion, this is borderline. So lets make up this scenario. Lets say the chuch only sells 4500 tickets instead of the 5250 tickets. Not only are they paying off the churchs debt and not giving away the house. They will then OWN the house (since its a donation ) and keep the rest for themselves after they give away a cash prize. Since the runner up prize is a 100,000 in cash prize, if they do not award the house if not enough tickets are sold, then i am willing to guess the "cash prize" as they put it would be what "25,000"? Maybe 50 if they are generous, thus still keeping 175,000 dollars and a 250,000 dollar house.
That's no different then me going out to different charities and saying "i have a 200,000 house (which i don't own) and i am raffeling it off, because i am so generous. But the stipulation is, i want at least 2000 tickets sold (at 50$ a ticket) before i award the house. So anything above 2,000 tickets i take in as commision (even though i didn't earn it since i really am not doing anything other then getting the word out there) and anything less, i keep the money
Doesn't matter how you twist it.
BigRedJake
Starter
Ok, let me see if I've got this. A house is donated to a church which is having debt problems. The church decides to raffle off the house since cash is a whole lot more useful than a house at that point. The church, though, doesn't want to be left with less than they started with so they set a lower limit of sales at which they will give away the house. Any winner, in the event there aren't enough sales, will still recieve a prize much much larger than the initial buy-in and they are aware of that chance. The church, in either case is left with more than they started with, and every single person who bought a ticket will have had the chance to win a very valuable prize. That's not a scam, that's good business.
The key point that needs to be made here is that the church owns the house; if the lottery was not being held the church would be left with a $250,000 house that they could sell outright to help with their debt. If they don't make enough money off of the ticket sales to cover the cost of the house, they will have taken a loss. Doesn't matter how you twist it.