“We Can Publicize Games But Not Your Lotteries” from the February 16, 1950 Door County Advocate
We Can Publicize Games But Not Your Lotteries
Attention all publicity chairmen and secretaries, of Door County clubs and similar organizations!!!!
We of the Advocate staff are merely trying to stay “legal” when we tell you we can’t print any thing about your group’s bingo game or raffle. We aren’t trying to be harsh and inconsiderate, by any means.
The reason for this refusal is simple. Activities such as those are (and please pardon this horrible expression) ILLEGAL LOTTERIES, and printing news about them is illegal under both state and federal law.
Taking a closer look at this strange animal called a lottery we find that three qualities—prize, consideration, and chance—constitute an illegal lottery. Let’s take them one by one.
PRIZE—A thing of value which is awarded to the “winner,” the person who holds the lucky number, or the guy who gets five beans in a row first. Most all contests of any kind have a prize, whether it be a Mexican chihuahua or a Cadillac convertible.
CONSIDERATION—If the participant in the contest puts up anything of value to assure he will he will be considered in the final account, that is consideration. In other words, if you buy a raffle ticket or plunk down a nickel to play bingo, that, brother, is consideration. It matters not how small the consideration is, either, because theoretically there will always be someone who can’t afford it.
CHANCE—If the method of awarding the prize is determined in a way not involving skill, the element of chance enters the issue. In bingo, skill is not involved and it is by chance that you get the beans or buttons all in a row. The same goes for raffles where a ticket is usually drawn at random from a hopper.
Need All Three
However, to officially be an illegal lottery, a scheme must have all three of the aforementioned elements involved. If there is a prize and consideration but the winner is picked by his skill at some activity, then the lottery is legal. If chance and prize are involved but there is no consideration, then, again the lottery is okay. And so far into the night.
Of course, it’s not all as cut and dried as it sounds. Different courts rule different ways, and some might call one thing skill and another would call it chance. Some courts call one lottery illegal while still others will sanction it.
Must Watch Our Step
But just remember. We don’t know into which court we’d be taken and so we have to be careful of all of them. It’s even difficult to go on the basis of previous cases involving lotteries, because no two courts will rule the same issues.
So please don’t get us wrong. We’re not as hard-hearted as we may seem, and we’ll do everything we can to help you, but please—no bingo games, raffles or illegal drawings! — Adapted from the DePere Journal-Democrat.
Courtesy of the Door County Library Newspaper Archive
[Illegal lotteries are in the media again due to Pennsylvania’s recent civil action filing: https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/commonwealth-of-pennsylvania-lawrence-krasner-v-america-pac-elon-musk-election-giveaway-complaint.pdf
In Wisconsin, conducting a lottery is a misdemeanor, prohibited under 945.02(3). There are exceptions for certain types of promotional sweepstakes under closely defined rules, but none of the exceptions specifically legitimatize this particular type of lottery.
The court filing is from Philadelphia District Attorney Lawrence S. Krasner instead of from the state DA. Krasner is Philadelphia’s counterpart to Door County’s Colleen Nordin. If Nordin believes that the lottery opposed by Philadelphia’s DA is also forbidden by Wisconsin’s laws, she could file a civil suit parallel to the one in Pennsylvania. The purpose of the suit would be to quickly obtain an injunction from a judge to stop the lottery.
Undoubtedly some would object on partisan grounds. Despite Elon Musk being a celebrity, he is both notorious and famous simultaneously. Current popularity ratings at https://nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/elon-musk-popularity-poll-democrat-republican-election-endorsement-rcna172353 show that he does not possess such an extreme degree of charisma that bringing this case would ensure Nordin’s defeat during the election. Nordin’s victory on November 5th is basically assured because there is no challenger; DAs are elected to four year terms.
If prosecuted, a man from Eau Claire, https://www.wqow.com/eye-on-eau-claire/eau-claire-man-wins-elon-musks-1m-lottery/article_2c585320-92f2-11ef-819d-03a0de1145d8.html, could be made to forfeit his $1 million prize under 945.10. It would be less controversial for a suit to be filed locally than for Eau Claire County’s DA to file it.
The criminal penalty for running an illegal lottery is a fine up to $1,000, up to 90 days in jail, or both. Must once stated, “I’m ok with going to hell”: https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1523618052247789568. Hell is eternal, so if he is fine with going to hell, he should also be fine with going to jail for up to 90 days, if civil action alone is deemed inadequate.
This is not the only problem which has cropped up during the present election cycle. Several election betting operations are named in previous posts under https://doorcounty.substack.com/t/gambling.
Available copyright records indicate that the 1950 Journal-Democrat article which this article is based on is not presently under copyright.]