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Raffle tickets: sold online, sold at the table, drawn in the app

Numbered tickets emailed to the buyer, a QR for the flyer, a Sell screen for the volunteer with the cash box, and a Draw button that picks from every ticket that was paid for. A 50/50 shows the pot as it grows.

Updated September 3, 2026

The raffle table is where a show’s money leaks. Someone runs out of the two-part tickets, someone else can’t read the stub, and the 50/50 pot is whatever the treasurer counts at four o’clock. The Store fixes the bookkeeping part. Tickets get numbers in order, every sale is a row with a name on it, and the draw pulls from the tickets that were paid for and nothing else.

Setting up a raffle

Store, then Raffles, then the New raffle form on the right. Name it, say what the proceeds are for, and pick a kind: a prize raffle, where you list the prizes and each one gets its own winner, or a 50/50, where the winner takes a share of the pot (you set the percent; 50 is the default).

Then the bundles. A bundle is how many tickets for how much: one for $5, an arm’s length of six for $20. Up to four rows; leave a row blank to skip it. Two boxes decide where it sells: online (the page and its QR code) and at the show (the Sell screen). Sales close when you say, when you close them, or when the last prize is drawn, whichever comes first.

The Rules box is yours. Drawing time, need-not-be-present, who is eligible. Raffle law varies by state, and quite a few states only let a registered nonprofit run one, so read your own rules before you print the flyer. The page prints what you write and nothing else.

A raffle in Manage: the sales figures, two prizes with their Draw and Enter a number buttons, and the recent orders — One raffle in Manage. Every prize has a Draw button and a box for a number you pulled by hand.

Selling online

Every show gets one raffle page, at /raffle/ on your own address, listing each raffle that is on sale. A buyer picks how many of each bundle, gives an email for the tickets, and finishes on your provider’s checkout on their own phone. The moment the payment lands, the tickets get the next numbers in line and go out by email, and the buyer has a page with those numbers that stays put. Winners get posted on the raffle page as they are drawn.

Online sales need a connected payment account (Settings, then Payments) because, as with every dollar on Car Show HQ, the money goes straight to your Square, Stripe or PayPal and never through us. No account connected? The raffle still sells at the table.

The QR code for the page downloads as a PNG from the raffle itself. Put it on the flyer, the table tent, and the back of the windshield card if you are feeling ambitious.

The public raffle page on a phone: the prizes, the bundles with a quantity box each, and the buy form — The raffle page on a phone. A 50/50 shows the pot here instead of the prize list, and it grows as tickets sell.

Selling at the table

Store, then Sell, and the volunteer with the cash box has a screen made for a thumb: each bundle with a plus and a minus, a name and an email if the buyer wants their tickets sent, and a big Paid cash button. The tickets get their numbers right there and show on the screen, so a raffle that runs on paper stubs still works; you write the numbers on the stub and the app remembers who has them.

A Square Terminal that is paired for entry fees works here too. Card reader sends the total to the reader, the screen waits, and the tickets issue when the tap goes through. Paid another way covers the check from the club president.

Staff can sell. Only an owner or admin can set up a raffle or draw one.

The Sell screen: bundles with plus and minus buttons, optional buyer details, and the Paid cash and Card reader buttons, with the day's sales beside it — The Sell screen. The list on the right is today’s sales at the table, newest first, with their numbers.

The draw

Back on the raffle in Manage, every prize has two buttons. Draw picks one ticket at random from the bowl: every ticket that was paid for and hasn’t already won. Enter a number is for the raffle that still pulls a paper stub; type what you drew and the app records it the same way. Either way the winner gets an email with the prize and their number, the raffle page shows the winning number and a first name, and Mark claimed tracks who has come to the table.

A 50/50 is one prize, the pot. The page shows the winner’s share as it stands, from the tickets that were paid for, so the number you announce is the number on the screen. When the last prize has a ticket the raffle is drawn and sales stop on their own.

Orders and the money

Store, then Orders, is every sale for the show: online and table, paid and pending, searchable by name, email, phone, order number or ticket number. Export CSV gives the treasurer the same list with the ticket numbers in a column. Resend receipt does what it says; Void takes a sale’s tickets out of the bowl if it should never have happened.

Refunds for card sales happen in your provider’s dashboard, and a refund there voids the tickets here when the webhook arrives. Cash refunds are between you and the cash box; void the order so the tickets leave the draw.

What it does not do

It does not decide whether your raffle is lawful. Check your state and your organization’s status first.
It does not print tickets. Buyers get numbers by email and on a page; the table works with numbers on the screen or your own paper stubs.
Admission tickets, parking, merch and VIP packages are not on this page; they have their own, on the same store.
It does not cap how many one person can buy. If your rules do, say so in the Rules box and watch the Orders list.
The receipt is a payment receipt. A raffle ticket is not a donation for tax purposes and the email doesn’t pretend otherwise.

Next, add the raffle QR to the same sheet as the voting code, and put the volunteer with the steadiest hands on the Sell screen.

Keep reading

Raffles, answered

Where does the ticket money go?

Online sales go through the Square, Stripe or PayPal account your organization connected for entry fees, the same as everything else here. Cash at the table stays in your cash box; the app only records that it happened.

Does the buyer get a physical ticket?

Online buyers get their numbers by email and on a page they can keep open on their phone. At the table you can sell with or without an email: the numbers show on the Sell screen, so a volunteer can write them on a paper stub if that is how your raffle runs.

Can I still pull a ticket out of a bowl?

Yes. Every prize has two buttons: Draw, which picks at random from every paid ticket, and Enter a number, for the one you pulled by hand. Both record the winner and email them.

Is a raffle legal where I am?

That depends on your state and your organization, and Car Show HQ does not decide it for you. Many states limit raffles to registered nonprofits or require a permit. Check before you sell a ticket; there is a Rules box on the raffle where you say, in your own words, what applies.

What about admission, parking, or merchandise?

They're on the same Store, on the same page and the same checkout: see Tickets and the store. A raffle bundle and an admission ticket can sit in one order.

Sell the first ticket this weekend

The Store is on every organization, free. Online sales need a connected payment account; table sales don't.

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