Obtaining a Raffle License
According to state law, all raffle drawings must be licensed by the local city and/or county government. Any non-profit group that wishes to conduct a raffle drawing in the unincorporated area of Perry County must first obtain a raffle license from the Perry County Board. The County also issues licenses on behalf of the City of Pinckneyville and Village of Tamaroa. Groups conducting a raffle inside other communities should contact the appropriate city or village clerk.
Who May Apply
Groups must comply with the Illinois Raffles Act and the Perry County Raffle Ordinance. Groups eligible include, but are not limited to:
- Religious Organizations
- Fraternal Groups
- Veterans Organizations
- Labor Organizations
- Business Groups
- Educational Organizations
- Groups aiding those suffering extreme financial hardship
What Is Required
Raffle license applications are obtained in the County Clerk’s office. The organization must complete the application and return it with the required $15 fee. The Perry County Board will then consider the application at its next regular meeting.
In addition to providing information about the group and its officers, each applicant must name a raffle manager that will be responsible for the conduct of the raffle. The group must also provide facts about the raffle, such as when tickets will be sold, the prizes to be given away, when and where the drawing will be held, etc.
According to state law, the raffle manager named on the application must be bonded to group. Proof of corporate fidelity bond or personal surety bond must accompany the application. However, groups may waive the bond requirement by a unanimous vote of the organization. The president or chairperson of the group must sign a certification stating the bond requirement was waived.
Since an application must be obtained, completed and filed, then approved by the Perry County Board, you are encouraged to obtain the necessary information well in advance of your planned fund-raiser.
If your group is considering a raffle fund-raiser, you are encouraged to contact the County Clerk’s Office. We will provide you with a copy of the Perry County Raffle Ordinance and answer your questions.
So my mother-in-law has come to stay and, for once, I don’t know why I was worrying about it. Visits by anyone usually make me tense. I can’t seem to get away from the 'is my house tidy enough?’ panic.
I then get into a state about food and what to cook and 'are any towels clean?’ and 'oh God, why don’t the children ever flush the loo?’ and, though my mother-in-law has not once complained about the stench of boy in the downstairs bathroom, a visit usually sends me spiralling out of control.
But not this time. In fact, a rather wonderful calm has settled on our house. For a start, my husband and I cannot row in front of his mother, which means that the past few weeks of friction seem to calm down somewhat.
Part of it is, I am sure, down to my husband’s mother. Every time I turn around she is baking, cleaning and washing up. She is also, fortunately, one of those blessed women who doesn’t moan about the way her grandchildren are being brought up. Every time they swear – 'I said ship, not sh—,’ Jerry keeps saying to her – she pales slightly but not once does she tell me they shouldn’t have such dreadful language at their age.
If she did, I would be forced to explain that having a teenager in the house has put paid to anything resembling innocence. The other day Raymond, now nearly 14, took Jerry’s birthday presents – a Dr Who figure and a Dalek – and placed them in such a compromising position even I blanched.
'It’s only man sex,’ Raymond said giggling.
'I know,’ I said.
'Do you?’ he said, looking slightly shocked.
The presence of my mother-in-law also means my husband and I go out for dinner and bond over talking about her. We discuss the fact she has been ill, what the doctors have or haven’t done to help, whether or not she should move to live near us.
At the end of her last evening with us my husband leans back in his chair and says, 'What a lovely night.’ We walk home, hand in hand, under the stars and, as we go to sleep that night, I bless the day she came to stay.