California Voters Back Charity Raffles

Voters in California this month approved a proposal amending the state constitution to allow non-profit organizations to hold fund-raising raffles.

Proposition 17, which gives the state Legislature the power to authorize such raffles, was supported by 3.8 million voters. Some 2.7 million voted against the idea.

To be eligible to hold a raffle, a non-profit group must show that 90 percent of the gross receipts from a raffle go directly to support beneficial or charitable purposes in California, and that anyone paid to operate the raffle is an employee of the non-profit group conducting it.

Similar proposals have come before the Legislature over the past decade or so but never made it to the voters. Supporters of the amendment successfully argued this time that many charities already hold such raffles while authorities look the other way.