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I am posting the following at Kingdom Seneschal Master Richard
Fairbourne's request:<br>
<br>
<br>
After consulting with the Oklahoma AG's office and the legal staff at my
work place (the Oklahoma Tax Commission), I present the following
information. Oklahoma Law bans lotteries as a form of
gambling. To be classified as gambling any lottery (raffle,
etc.) in question <b><u>must</u></b> meet all three of the
following criteria. First - something must be purchased, second -
there must be the expectation of receiving something, and third - there
must be an element of chance. <br>
<br>
The commonly use donation-drawing seeks to prevent meeting all three of
the criteria by avoiding the first test. If you do not purchase a
ticket but are given it in the form of a numbered receipt for a donation
you fail the first test. This is the most commonly used method in
Oklahoma and is accepted by almost everyone as sufficient. Some
people have questioned if this common practice is enough to avoid
possible prosecution by the modern authorities (something I was assured
today hasn't happened in decades). So to avoid any concern Master
Richard has proposed that we give everyone who receives a ticket a
prise. I checked on this idea and it will indeed be more than
sufficient to cause our drawing to fail the third test. There is no
<b>chance</b> involved if every ticket receives a prise (value of
the prise is not a consideration I was told). I was told today that
we really didn't need to do this, but that if this were brought before
almost any jurisdiction in Oklahoma, it would be viewed as failing two of
the three tests. Hopefully this will answer the questions that have
been raised and we can get back to making NRT a great event this
year.<br>
<br>
<br>
Sir Burke Kyriell MacDonald, op<br>
Deputy Kingdom Seneschal</html>