190-a. Raffles; license not required. 1. Notwithstanding the licensing requirements set forth in this article and their filing requirements set forth in subdivision four of section one hundred ninety of this article, an authorized organization may conduct a raffle without complying with such licensing requirements or such filing requirements, provided, that such organization shall derive net proceeds from raffles in an amount less than five thousand dollars during the conduct of one raffle and shall derive net proceeds from raffles in an amount less than thirty thousand dollars during one calendar year.
2. (a) For the purposes of this section, "authorized organization" shall mean and include any bona fide religious or charitable organization or bona fide educational, fraternal or service organization or bona fide organization of veterans, volunteer firefighters or volunteer ambulance workers that by its charter, certificate of incorporation, constitution, or act of the legislature, has among its dominant purposes one or more of the lawful purposes as defined in this article, provided that each shall operate without profit to its members and provided that each such organization has engaged in serving one or more of the lawful purposes as defined in this article for a period of one year immediately prior to being granted the filing requirement exemption contained in subdivision one of this section.
(b) No organization shall be deemed an authorized organization that is formed primarily for the purpose of conducting games of chance and that does not devote at least seventy-five percent of its activities to other than conducting games of chance. No political party shall be deemed an authorized organization.
3. No person under the age of eighteen shall be permitted to play, operate or assist in any raffle conducted pursuant to this section.
4. No raffle shall be conducted pursuant to this section except within a municipality in which the authorized organization is domiciled that has passed a local law, ordinance or resolution in accordance with sections one hundred eighty-seven and one hundred eighty-eight of this article approving the conduct of games of chance, and in municipalities which have passed a local law, ordinance or resolution in accordance with sections one hundred eighty-seven and one hundred eighty-eight of this article approving the conduct of games of chance that are located within the county or contiguous to the county in which the organization is domiciled.
Last modified: February 3, 2019