contract-law united-kingdom gambling
Can one &quot;donate&quot; to enter a prize draw?
<p>If someone incites donations by including donors into a prize draw, is it still donation? Or is it contract? Gambling maybe?</p>
<p><a href="https://www.passportbacktoourroots.org/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Passport: Back to Our Roots</a> is doing that: &quot;Everyone who donates will be entered into a prize draw to win entry for themselves and a friend&quot;. Basically, if you want to attend a gig you can try winning &quot;entry&quot; by entering the draw — which you can do by either donating, or &quot;for free by post&quot;.</p>
<p>The hitch is that the gigs &quot;will happen when it’s safe for gigs to happen properly&quot; — which may happen later than sooner, if at all.</p>
<p>Does that sound like a scheme
for gig organisers to avoid
having to refund / being held to account? Is it legal-proof?</p>
<p>If someone wins entry (having paid a &quot;donation&quot;) but the organisers never deem it safe for the gig to happen, will the donor be entitled to a refund?</p>

<p>Free draws are outside the remit of the Gambling Act 2005 per <a href="https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/PDF/Prize-competitions-and-free-draws-the-requirements-of-the-gambling-act-2005.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this guidance</a> from the Gambling Commission (section 4 from page 5 onwards).</p>
<blockquote>
<p>an arrangement is a lottery only if the participants are required to pay to enter. Therefore, free draws always have been and remain exempt from statutory control. Schedule 2 to the Act gives details of what is to be treated as amounting to ‘payment to enter’ for the purposes of distinguishing free draws from lotteries.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Given that there is an alternative route (sending a letter by post) to entering the prize draw, it can be regarded as a &quot;free draw&quot; and is not considered gambling.</p>
<p>To answer the other questions:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Does that sound like a scheme for gig organisers to avoid having to refund / being held to account? Is it legal proof?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>No. It seems entirely pragmatic to be upfront that the gigs will not be going ahead until it's safe enough to withdraw social distancing guidelines. I don't know what you mean by &quot;legal proof&quot; here.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If someone wins entry (having paid a &quot;donation&quot;) but the organisers never deem it safe for the gig to happen, will the donor be entitled to a refund?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It seems unlikely that there is a contract here. You are not buying a ticket, merely the right to enter a draw which <em>may</em> reward you with a ticket. I suppose you could argue that a contract has been formed if you have the right to dispose of your right to enter the draw, but it seems worthless to me and I can't imagine that any valuable consideration has exchanged hands as a result. Still, it would be a matter for a court to decide on the facts at the end of the day.</p>
