What do you think about now Instagram is invaded by raffles on pokemon cards and even thousands of dollars of box sealed also? I think it is shameful non-educational and dangerous as well as inciting gambling addiction. What do you think about it?
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its offensive and probably illegal.
in Europe is illegal: Iām sure. I donāt know in usa. Itās illegal also?
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no idea. im feom new zealand
I also started to unfollowed. Youāre right is the best choice.
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Didnāt that dude Schoolboy Chad just scam like hundreds of people for thousands of dollars? All his Raffles were rigged from day one.
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oh itās terribleā¦ 
This every time, they make it too easy some times
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I used to do razzes for MTG on Facebook. When I joined the page it was smaller and had a really healthy community of people. Scams were nonexistent and the page allowed people to sell their cards at full market price and gave the others some fun. One person always did the razzes, they would timestamp the videos and comment when they were starting them so it was a decent system to ensure that the person doing the razzes could not rig them.
All of that being said, it quickly went down hill when the page grew exponentially over just a few months. Scams were rampant, people started undercutting others razzes with the same cards and most of the new members would come just to sell their cards or collections but not put any money back into the razzes. So the page and itās small market of people dried up very quickly.
Other than legality issues I like the idea of razzing but itās literally impossible to form a healthy community for it. It has the ability to create a sustainable environment where sellers get full value and buyers have fun but it never works that way. If we are talking about raffles where there is no limit to the number of spots someone can purchase that is not sustainable at all. Overall just not a good idea.
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I personally am the idea that everything has its place. Instagram is a place for sharing photos ā¦ In our case, sharing and talking about cards. Raffle do in casinos with linit or no limit and itās illegal and damaged the pokemon community in general.
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It is 100% illegal everywhere in the US as well for good reason. It is also against TOS to operate them on FB, PP, IG pretty much anywhere as well. That is why they need to hide in secret/closed/invite only groups behind the terms ārazzā, ārazzleā, āwaffleā, ābedazzledā, what have you because the filters will quickly shut down anything picking up the term āraffleā.
The best case for an āhonest raffleā it is illegal gambling that is likely violating terms of service of whatever platform they are on and worst case it is the same while roping in underage kids who donāt know any better and likely rigged making it further illegal.
I honestly have a hard time feeling too bad for any adults who fall victim to this. Iāve had friends do it on FB with sports memorbilia, coins all kinds of things and I warned them from the start. A fool and his money are soon parted. I could never take any ābusinessā/individual seriously who would run one or would try to justify running one.
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Used to think they were a harmless, fun idea when I first came across the in the community but opinion quickly changed. Iām happy for them to have their place and following in the hobby but donāt want anything to do with it myself; no longer follow anyone or any pages to do with them, just not worth the hassle and the minimal returns.
I unfollow anyone who raffles as well. It amazes me the raffles fill, I would have thought people would get sick of participating since 90% of the time you lose money. It doesnāt seem like a great business model, but the thrill must keep customers coming back.
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I heard this too. Something about fixing the random number generator that determines who the winner is.
Iām sure that there are some honest people who do it but itās pretty shady that stuff like this goes down.
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āThat dudeā is a known scammer on the E4 banned list
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My friend deals in Harrison Ford autographs. The other day he put up one of his autoās on a Facebook Group raffle.
I told him that the Pokemon card community looks down on raffles and think itās a scummy practice.
He asked me why, but I didnāt really have a good reason. His argument was was that someone could pay $20 and get an $800 item in return. Yeah, itās a gamble, but a 1/60 chance is a lot better odds than a state lottery or Vegas. No one is forcing anyone to partake in these raffles, and the collective price per ticket pays for the item being raffled.
So are the people against Pokemon raffles against gambling in general? I agree itās not the best way to spend your money, but for some people, this may be their only opportunity to get a big ticket item. And Iām not talking about people who āfixā their raffles to get a predetermined winner, but legit raffles with actual random numbers and random winners.
In the US, because they are selling tickets or āslotsā in their raffles in order to enter, they fall outside incidental non-commercial lotteries and are therefore illegal.
@pokenastic speaking for myself only here.
I am not a fan of gambling where there is a āhouseā that has a mathematical edge. I guess Iām just too good at math or too good with my money to partake generally. In the long run the house always wins and whoever gambles against the house only has a shot of coming out ahead by winning early and quitting while they are ahead and most donāt do that.
The vast majority of all gambling I do is where a few friends bet on a game or outcome of some event that is a true zero sum game. I lose $5, they get $5. No house rake, vigorish or edge. I do Fantasy football, squares, things of that nature. I like the thrill it adds to watching the games and money stays amongst friends. I have gambled a bit at a casino socially with friends where Iāve just mentally written it off as a night out on par with spending money on seeing a movie or a meal at a restaurant but I donāt prefer it still.
I have family and friends that are gambling addicts and it pains me to see them do it. Raffles just further feed into the addictions of people like that. Due to my concern in the past I asked a friend to start jotting down the raffles he entered, the cost, how many entries total and the expected value of a win. From what I saw the āpayout rateā varied between 50-90% and the MSRP or value of the winning item was often inflated (easy to do when it comes to autos or something else similarly not sold on amazon). I also demonstrated to him how he would have been better off simply buying one or two of the items he was going for. A point he hadnāt considered until I questioned him was how little he actually would have wanted any of these things without feeling they were some prize. I.e. he wouldnāt have actually bought any single raffle prize he entered for at MSRP yet he was gambling on them at an expected value higher than MSRP. Insanity.
That all on top of the fact that it is illegal, against TOS and extremely easy to make look legit while having it rigged all along is why I think it is a scummy practice. Especially again when involving children who canāt be expected to understand all these intricacies. When you add in signatures which Iāve seen frequently, I bet many times the signature isnāt even legit as Iāve seen multiple having questionable at best COAās that looked to be typed in Word and printed on a laser printer. At least when someone goes to a casino one can know that everything is above board and the house edge is calculable and known going into it too.
Just a few quick thoughts.
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Raffles are similar to fake cards; you have to ignore obvious problems in order to accept them.
When I want to buy a card, I just go on ebay, find the card and make the purchase. There isnāt another interpretation, chance, or possibility; itās completely straight forward.
Raffles are truly not about the product; they are selling loss. The product is used to allure people to buy nothing. Majority of the participants get nothing. Similar to a pyramid scheme.
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I see your video about raffle! Good video! 
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