Unless the Legislature acts, Alaska nonprofits will have to stop selling raffle tickets online June 30. The state has allowed online sales by registered nonprofits since early summer 2020, as the pandemic shut down or made difficult group events and in-person ticket sales.
Temporary legislation allowing charitable groups to sell and draw winning tickets online expires in less than two months, though a bill under consideration would make the provision permanent.
The legislation “will modernize Alaska’s charitable gaming program,” Deb Moore, executive director of the Alaska Professional Hunters Association, testified May 3 at the House Finance Committee, which is considering the bill.
Allowing online raffle sales reduces the burden on volunteers to sell fundraising tickets in person, she said, in addition to making it easier to market the tickets to non-residents, bringing in more money for the state’s nonprofits.
Senate Bill 201, sponsored by Anchorage Sen. Mia Costello, passed the Senate without opposition in March, and would go to the House floor for a vote after action in the House Finance Committee, which may take up the measure again this week.
The bill also includes a provision directed at helping relief efforts in Ukraine. It would allow charitable gaming proceeds to be used outside Alaska if the money benefits “the people of a country that has been invaded by another country.”
Before the temporary pandemic-era waiver, state law prohibited using the internet for charitable gaming activities, such as ticket sales and drawings.
“A huge hinderance to these fundraising efforts is the requirement to sell raffle tickets and draw winners in person,” Costello said in a sponsor statement accompanying her legislation. “In a state as vast as ours, this has limited the ability of charities to receive support from all corners of Alaska, whether that charity is located in a population center or a remote community.”
The intent is to “give nonprofit organizations across Alaska an opportunity to increase their fundraising and expand their charitable efforts in our communities,” the senator said. There are more than 800 licensed charitable organizations in Alaska that can run fundraising raffles, she told the House Finance Committee on May 3.
Opening up sales online to out-of-state residents provided a huge boost this year for the Safari Club International Alaska chapter’s annual hunting permit raffle, said Louis Cusack, executive director. More than half of the $500,000-plus in ticket sales in the February raffle came from out-of-state buyers, he said in an interview May 3.
The club raffled off a Dall sheep hunt permit that was donated by the state. Tickets were $100 each.
“That permit raised more money … than any other sheep permit has raised in North America,” Cusack said.
Alaska law allows the state to grant up to three Dall sheep hunt permits a year to nonprofits “dedicated to fish and game law enforcement, management of hunted game species, or use of game populations for hunting.”
In addition to the permit, the Safari Club raffle winner — which turned out to be an Alaskan — received a 10-day fully guided hunt, 10 days of pre-guiding, a custom-built rifle and other gear.
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