Responsible Fundraising and Participant Protection

Teaching Our Traditions conducts raffles to support its charitable mission and educational programs. Although raffles can be an enjoyable way to support our work, every ticket purchase involves chance and must be approached responsibly.

IMPORTANT

A raffle ticket is a chance to win, not an investment, savings strategy, or reliable source of income. Ticket purchases are generally final and should be made only with discretionary funds.

Age and Identity Requirements

Participants must be at least 18 years old for non-firearm raffles.
Participants must be at least 21 years old for every raffle that includes a firearm.
TOT may require valid government-issued identification to verify a participant’s age, identity, residence, and prize eligibility.
An entry purchased by an underage or otherwise ineligible person is void and is generally non-refundable, except where a refund is required by law or expressly authorized by TOT.

Set Healthy Financial Boundaries

Participation should remain voluntary, affordable, and enjoyable. TOT encourages every participant to:

Set a personal raffle budget before purchasing tickets.
Use only money that can comfortably be spent without affecting housing, food, utilities, medical care, debt obligations, savings, or other necessities.
Review the fixed ticket pool and understand the odds before purchasing.
Avoid buying additional tickets in an attempt to recover prior spending or losses.
Keep track of purchases across all raffles and fundraising platforms.
Take a break when participation causes financial, personal, or emotional stress.

No Guarantee of Winning

Every raffle winner is selected by chance. Purchasing more tickets increases the number of entries but does not guarantee a win. Past participation, prior losses, donation history, purchase timing, or relationships with TOT do not improve the chance assigned to any individual ticket.

Requests to Limit Communications or Participation

A participant may contact TOT to request removal from promotional raffle communications. TOT may also consider reasonable requests to restrict or close an online raffle account, subject to platform capabilities, record-retention requirements, active entries, and applicable law. Transactional notices relating to existing purchases, drawings, winners, refunds, or legal obligations may still be sent.

Support Resources

Free and confidential help is available for people concerned about gambling behavior or the effect that games of chance are having on personal or family finances. Current Ohio law provides for a statewide, toll-free problem-gambling information line staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

National Problem Gambling Helpline: call or text 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537).
Ohio Problem Gambling Helpline: 1-800-589-9966.
National Council on Problem Gambling: ncpgambling.org.

Monitoring and Policy Review

TOT will periodically review its raffle communications, website disclosures, age controls, odds information, and support resources. TOT may revise this policy to reflect changes in law, technology, fundraising practices, or available assistance programs. Material updates become effective when posted unless a later effective date is stated.

Contact Teaching Our Traditions

Questions about responsible participation, raffle rules, communication preferences, or account assistance may be submitted through the Contact page on the TOT website or by using the contact information listed in the Master Official Raffle Rules.

This policy is an educational and consumer-protection resource. It does not provide medical, legal, financial, or tax advice.