Official Rules
DEMONSTRATION ONLY — no tickets are for sale and no payments are accepted. Sales stay disabled until the City of Milford raffle permit is approved and verified. These rules are a template. The binding, raffle-specific Official Rules are published, versioned, and frozen on each raffle's detail page before its first ticket is sold, and cannot be changed afterwards.
1. Sponsor, operator & merchant of record
Each raffle is sponsored, operated, and conducted by the nonprofit organization named on that raffle's detail page. The nonprofit holds the municipal raffle permit, is the merchant of record for all ticket payments, controls all raffle funds, and conducts the drawing. The Lovely Lemon charges no platform fee. Its technology and marketing services are donated. The Lovely Lemon is a donated technology and marketing partner only; it does not sell tickets, hold raffle funds, or run drawings.
2. Permit
Each raffle is conducted under a municipal raffle permit issued by the City of Milford, Connecticut. The permit class, permit number, and issue date appear on the raffle detail page. No tickets are offered or sold before that permit is issued, verified, and recorded in this application.
3. Eligibility
Tickets may be purchased only by individuals who are physically located in Connecticut and are 18 or older at the time of purchase. A ticket purchase is required to enter. Void where prohibited. Officers, directors, employees, and volunteers of the nonprofit operator and of The Lovely Lemon, and members of their households, are not eligible to win. A ticket purchase is required to enter this raffle; there is no free method of entry.
4. Tickets & limits
Ticket prices, total tickets, and per-order and per-customer limits are set on each raffle and locked before the draw. All amounts are calculated server-side. Every paid ticket is matched to a numbered physical ticket stub issued by the nonprofit. Tickets are non-refundable except where required by law or if the raffle is cancelled.
5. Drawing procedure
No drawing is conducted online. Every paid ticket is matched to a numbered physical ticket stub. The physical stubs are the entries placed in the drawing container; the digital roster and its SHA-256 hash are a supplementary audit record, not a replacement for stubs. After sales close, the numbered stubs are placed in the drawing container and the winner is drawn in person by the nonprofit operator in the presence of a named witness at the date, time, and location disclosed on the raffle detail page. Results are recorded with evidence and independently approved by an auditor before publication. Need-not-be-present-to-win.
6. Winner notification, claim & taxes
The winner is contacted using the details on the winning order. Before a prize is released, the winner must present government-issued identification, sign an affidavit of eligibility and release, and complete an IRS Form W-9. Before a prize is released, the winner must provide government-issued ID and a completed IRS Form W-9. Where the prize value meets federal reporting thresholds, the nonprofit will issue IRS Form W-2G or Form 1099 and may be required to collect withholding from the winner. Prizes are awarded as described; no cash substitution unless the nonprofit states otherwise. Unclaimed prizes are handled in accordance with the permit terms.
7. Prizes & use of proceeds
Prizes are graded collectible sports cards as described on each raffle. Ticket revenue first pays prize costs and payment-processing fees. 100% of the remaining net proceeds go to the nonprofit. Actual amounts are published after every drawing — no fixed percentage of gross sales is promised. Ticket purchases are not tax-deductible charitable contributions. The nonprofit publishes gross sales, prize costs, processing fees, and net proceeds after each drawing.
8. Payment processing
Ticket sales stay disabled until the nonprofit has written approval from its payment processor to accept raffle payments. All payments are captured by the nonprofit's own processor account on a hosted checkout page; card details never touch this site.
9. Immutability & changes
The raffle-specific Official Rules are frozen at the version shown on each raffle when its first ticket is sold and cannot be modified afterwards. Material terms — price, ticket counts, prizes, dates, drawing location, and use of proceeds — are locked by the database once a paid order exists. A raffle may only be cancelled as permitted by law and the permit, in which case all paid tickets are refunded.
For the complete, raffle-specific official rules — including permit class, permit number, and drawing details — view the detail page of the raffle you wish to enter.