Tournament Raffles and Entry Fees

[Furface]

Leaving aside the over-enthusiastic contributions of my offspring, what do you think of raffles?
In quite a few tournaments, including some I have run, the raffle takings make the difference between loss and profit. Of course, they are purely voluntary, and are wonderful for covering getting the results together. But do they hide the economics of entry fees being too low?
And then, should entrants contribute prizes, should club members donate them, or should the club buy them? What is a proper level of provision? (Yesterday, there was a never-ending stream of prizes; at other tournaments there can be embarrassingly few).
(BTW, I always buy £3 worth of tickets for each member of my family shooting.)

[TJ Mason]

The raffle must stay! Why, the very thought...

There's a balancing act between keeping entry fees low enough to attract entries and being sure of covering costs and turning a reasonable profit. I'd be strongly in favour of making sure the entry fees cover the business needs, and treating the raffle as a bonus.

Does anyone have some actual figures for entry receipts and raffle receipts? At the tournaments I've been to, it looked like the spend on the raffle was about 10% to 25% that of entry fees. Too large to ignore, but too unpredictable to rely on.

[morphymick]

Drop the raffle??? What madness is this.....

Striking the right balance on entry fees is always contentious. A few of my club's members refused to shoot at Chantry's Double Worcester for that reason. What do they expect for a full days shooting?

For me, I enjoy it too much to quibble over a few quid. It usually costs more in petrol getting there anyway.

As for the raffle, I always spend at least the same amount as I spend on the entry fee.

Mick

[Jenny]

Just out of interest, (since I've never entered one myself) what is the average entry fee for a tournament?


~Jenny~

[TJ Mason]

Entry fees are usually about £5 to £7. Some, especially record status shoots, are higher -- the Pendle & Samlesbury shoot was £13.50.

And raffle tickets are usually 50p for a strip of 5! I tend to spend £3 to £5 on the raffle.

[Jenny]

Originally Posted by TJ Mason

Entry fees are usually about £5 to £7. Some, especially record status shoots, are higher -- the Pendle & Samlesbury shoot was £13.50.

Seems like a fair price to me; it's not like you're entering competitions every day.

Pretty average price for raffle tickets though...that's the price they usually are at most places.


~Jenny~

[Dave]

Originally Posted by TJ Mason

-- the Pendle & Samlesbury shoot was £13.50.

But there was a number of new bosses waiting to be shot at Tim, and it was record status - oh and don't forget the , you got

[TJ Mason]

Wasn't complaining Dave, just indicating the price spread. Thanks for the cake, yum!

[Cakemeister]

There will be at BoA in January...Oh yes!! Also raffle prizes: it being so close to Xmas look out for unwanted socks, handkerchieves, relatives etc etc.

Not sure about other regions but there is a tradition in Northern County tournaments for the raffle to be very well subscribed to by a few notables i.e. TJ, MorphyMick, LMP, Furface, Littlest Furface (who gets subsidised) & others- which no doubt goes down well with the organisers but leads to seaside bingo-like madness come drawing time (see thread 'Xmas Cracker: The real story' with pix by your local paparazzi)


Pete

[Marcus26]

Here is some feedback from across 4-5 ponds.

Our shoots don't have raffles and entry fees vary from $15-$40 depending on the event. Our State Field Champs we charged $25 for 2 days shooting and made a good profit.

I am not a fan of raffles. Usually the prizes are crap and it adds a level of lameness to the event. If costs are high increase your charges. If people complain then start dropping the divisions that don't pay for themselves.
Our National Target cost $100 entry, yet if we dropped the divisions that didn't make money we could have charged $30 a head.