[Official Site] LATEST NEWS FROM THE OAKWELL CENTENARY SOCIETY

Is this legal? The Centenary society is by definition a lottery isn't it? As such doesnt the law dictate that the lottery provider and those facilitating the lottery must make clear the likelihood of winning a prize before someone buys a ticket and I can't see where it does either in the advertisement or in the sign up form.

If there are only 100 members then you have a far greater chance of winning than if there are 15000 members and I can't see where it tells you that crucial information.


Also what's this bit all about? "Every Friday, the weekly draw will take place, with a lucky winner being randomly selected. If your numbers match, you could be the fortunate recipient of a £1,000 cash prize"

So if my number matches and I'm selected they still don't have to give me the winning cash prize? What's all that about?

 

We've won it twice (4 of us. Each pays quarterly in turn since day 1) in it to win it. My bro in law has won it 3 times. I believe. Some will never have won it.
1500 btw not 15000. It is quite easy to work out. You have a 1 in 1500 chance to win. Your number comes out you win. You are not selected as you seem to think. Admittedly it's not the best worded statement but easy to read into.

the number is drawn. Not sure how nowadays. It used to be done on the pitch at home games. Via 3 boxes. 0-15. 0-9. 0-9. It's been going nearly 40 yrs. In pubs on mondays after away games. And out of season.

I would certainly want to question the last winning number as I did once b4. Cos if they use the system as the original and not a random number selector electronically. They can and did **** up.? And had to have a re-draw. That was in the late 80's early 90's.
1500 should have not been an option to take under the old system in my view and replaced by 000.
The number 15 should have been removed.
I'll leave it at that. as it created an issue. At the time. Hence another draw. Had to take place.

 

So if I am the only member that signs up I get £1000 as nobody else can win.

But if 10,000 fans decide to sign up I could still win £1000 but much less of a chance.

Surely how much you win each week should be based on how many are entered.

 

It's almost as bad as when Laurence Llewellyn Bowen tried to get you to by a national lottery ticket by saying that if you bought one, he'd have less chance of winning. Absolute ball ox. It's not a raffle.

 

How do you know there are 15000 numbers? I can't see that mentioned anywhere on the advertisement or the sign up page and it's vital information to know what your chances of winning are which I'm pretty sure is a legal requirement for this kind of thing isn't it? If I go to that ad today and sign up I could very reasonably assume that there are 100 members due to its name being centenary society. You are saying there are 1500 and that's vastly different odds. My dad's a member and he told me there are 1000 members which again is significantly different odds.

And I'm still very confused why if your number is randomly selected you COULD be the recipient of a cash prize. Does that mean they can choose not to pay out if they want?

 

I do think there's an opportunity to make this more appealing. Online sign up for a start, % of weekly pot paid out, monthly cash prizes, auto add on to season tickets, pay up front reduction, roll in to a membership scheme etc.

I've thought about signing up loads but can't be arsed filling a form and printing and sending in to Oakwell.

 

I assume it's just bad grammar & not a scam.

 

There is 1500 numbers available. £2 per week / £8.66 per month or £104 quid a year.

weekly draw, if your number is pulled out you win £1000. There is also quarterly and annual draws (see Christine whewhell and the red be polo circa 1988)

if your number is pulled and for any reason you haven’t paid you aren’t eligible to receive the prize.

there is a surplus yearly which goes towards running the academy I believe, when it was first set up it went to keep the club itself alive

 

I'm guessing here, but was it launched in 1987, thus the name 'Centenary'? Would make sense if so. I think I've read somewhere that it was initially established to help the club during troubled times, financially. These days, other than the winnings I think the rest goes into the Academy/Reds in Community.

Pretty sure there are 1,500 available numbers. It's definitely on the website somewhere. I'm number 182, obviously. Never won a bean. Lady that won it yesterday has won it a few times. The 'could' refers to the fact that you may not have paid in that week.

It was run for years by a lady named Sandra before she retired, then Beth took it on. There's certainly no scam, but I do agree with Dyson and think there's scope to bring it into the modern era, give it a revamp.

 

Your dad is wrong. its 1500 if all numbers get taken. btw not (again) 15000. always has been. You will keep your same number whilst ever in it. We've had 757 since day one. Your dad will have his own number that was allocated to him or he chose himself from those still available.
If you chose to join there will be unused ones available to select from . Hence the rollovers as not every number is taken. (They all used to be. but as you can imagine over nearly 40 yrs some will have dropped out for whatever reason)
The Weekly prize is £1000.
and the odd few other prizes at different intervals . Used to be a car ( Provided by Hazeldenes) for the annual draw. but appears to be £6k now.

£2 pw. You can pay however your want. If you pay for a full year it was £100 with 2 draws free.
DD. Cash over the counter. As I said previously 4 of us pay £26 per quarter. in turn. Every year.

 

Blimey. This thread suggests that it's going to be a long, long close season....

 

Was originally run by Gerry Whewall. Along with Ray his sidekick. That's when, the, shall we say, A **** up happened. which was investigated after I noted and reported the issue. Of what I saw happened.
What is used for the draw mate because I might want to make a query.

 

I suggest the adverts are changed to make them legally compliant then as they fail to say what the chances of winning are.

 

Seriously. I've never known one. if I join in one of those tv competitions nowhere does it say what are my chances. Or the national lottery. At least we know how many is the max. 1500/1. Maybe it could now be called the 1500 club. But it was known when set up. And it was named after the Centenary of the club. Hence centenary society.

 

I 'think' it's a random number generator. Something for you to ask at the next fan forum!