Fundraising tournament
 

I'm looking to raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and am thinking about having a poker tournament. I'm just trying to figure out the best format/buy-in/payout and interest level.

My first thought was to have a $50 buy-in freezeout with 50% of the proceeds paids out to the winners and the rest to charity. My sister thinks this is a little high for a buy-in (but she is notoriously cheap). Other options are a smaller buy-in with rebuys, add-ons, or a smaller payout (after all, it is for charity.) Which of these formats would you rather play and which one do you think would raise the most money?

If anyone has any experience in throwing one of these tournaments (fundraisers, not just home tourneys), any information would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Jim

Re: Fundraising tournament
 

How many players are in your plans? What type of facility will the tournament be held at? Do your local and state laws allow this form of fundraising? Do you have enough tables and chips for the amount of people you expect? I feel that in fundraisers the rebuy and add-on work great to coax a bit more money from people but you must be prepared with more chips on hand. If you are doing a fundraiser then you may be able to find sponsors for the location and for gifts to give away but again check your local laws. Get a sponsor for bounties. At each table when you draw to be the first dealer they also become the bounty. The person who puts them out wins the donated bounty prize. People are happy to win anything even if it’s a $5.00 gift card to Starbucks. Check out Homepokertourney.com it is an excellent resource for putting on tournaments. Lots of question left?

Re: Fundraising tournament
 

I have enough equipment to handle 50 players easily, including rebuys. Location isn't a problem, and I am in the process of looking into the legal questions.

Bounties are a good idea, and I can line up enough donations to cover those and possible some of the prizes. Ideally, I'd like to get someone to donate a TV or something for first and just have all the buy-in go to charity.

I am starting to think that the rebuy route would be the way to go.

Re: Fundraising tournament
 

I always wondered how it would work if the initial buyin was for the charity and all other buys were for the prize pool...

$30 initial buyin
$25 rebuys
$20 addon...

need lots of chips. Would it be worth it for the charity?

Re: Fundraising tournament
 

A quick perusal of Missouri State Law indicates that as the tournament director you could be charged with a Class D felony. In Kansas it’s a severity level 8, nonperson felony.

There may be an exclusion if a non-profit organization runs and hosts it, but it’s a big risk.

I’m not a lawyer, but I ran charity games in Maryland until they were shutdown.

Re: Fundraising tournament
 

There are alot of fundraising tournaments around Ohio. What a lot of people do is a buy-in of $45-$70, usually $55 with 3 rebuys. Also it common to have some sort of prize for the first player to bust out. Try here or here for some more ideas.

Re: Fundraising tournament
 

My family and I are running a tourney to raise money for my high school. What we are going to do is have all prizes donated and all of the money will go to charity, like you said with the tv. I think this is a good idea and could solve the legal troubles. It shouldn't be to hard to find businesses willing to donate prizes for a good cause.

-Plummy1013

Re: Fundraising tournament
 

In Michigan, you can not pay out any CASH prizes. There are lots of other rules, too. They make it almost impossible to host a charity poker event. Every state is different, though. If you are serious about the idea, you need to involve an attorney.

Re: Fundraising tournament
 

I'm going to have to give out prizes instead of cash. I've seen several tournaments advertised lately and they are all giving out non-cash prizes. One was very resourceful and is giving out Visa cash cards.

I've got a couple of local businesses to donate, and owner of the bar where I'm going to have it is talking to beer distributors. He thinks he can get something like a golf bag or maybe a neon light for one of the prizes.

Re: Fundraising tournament
 

[ QUOTE ]
In Michigan, you can not pay out any CASH prizes. There are lots of other rules, too. They make it almost impossible to host a charity poker event. Every state is different, though. If you are serious about the idea, you need to involve an attorney.

[/ QUOTE ]


Actually, in Michigan you only have to obtain a license that it is a charity event for a licensed non-profit organization. I'm sure that there are a lot of other "rules" but the one that I know for sure is that you can't pay any individual more that $500 in a day. The one that I have played before halted play when it got down to the final 2 people, pay them what they were guaranteed to win so far, and then bring them back the next day to finish up (since the 1st place finish received $1000). There is another one next weekend.

Charity poker tourney October 15th in Williamston, Michigan