Raffle Winner: Limited Edition Black Epic 476 Packlight...

The winner of this really awesome limited edition black Epic fly rod is Ticket #41 purchased by Tom from New York. Congratulations to Tom and thanks to everyone who purchased tickets; Your support helps fund NFC’s wild native fish conservation work.

STATE OF THE STATE…

Unfortunately, this will be the last online raffle NFC will be conducting due to increasingly complicated state laws that make doing so both costly and difficult to administer. Some states prohibit online raffles, and some that do allow them considered them a form of gambling that is bound by laws established by the state Gaming Commission who oversees casinos, etc.…

In the case of Maine, individuals must be physically present in the state to purchase online raffle tickets, and you cannot sell tickets to minors. Effective April 2026, you can no longer accept credit card payment for online raffles - just debit cards. And the mandatory state approved payment verification vendors charge 6.5% or more per transaction on top of the 3-4% we must pay to Stripe that does the actual banking processing in the background. This greatly limits our market while increasing our costs threefold.

GOING FORWARD…

  • Items historically donated to NFC for fund-raising will now be sold under a “Special Item” category in our online store. This includes fly rods, artwork, nets, and other items of interest to our supporters. We currently have two unique pieces of brook trout art, one from Alan James Robinson and one from Adriano Manocchia. We will be adding other items as they become available.

  • We are also looking into targeted show/event in-person raffles which are easier to administer due to their single state nature and less complicated laws. Events and items will be determined based on traffic, number of days, and the value of the respective item.

  • NFC will also be looking into online auctions as they are not classified as gambling. While less effective than raffles, and no one will get a deal as is the case with raffles, it would allow us to get the most we can for a given item.

  • In addition, we may use some items in conjunction with special limited edition memberships.

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