Good Morning-

I held off on this weeks post for a day due to one reason, with things like in-person racing on the rise again and today registration starts for the Disney Wine and Dine weekend. This post seems to be appropriate to have waited to go up today. This weeks post is the legality of race lotteries:

Racing is a method of movement used for a variety of reasons, such as, to stay in shape, stay healthy, relieve stress, have fun, for competition, et cetera. As early as of 2015 there were over 7 million finishers of 5k races, almost 2 million half marathoners, 1.2 million 10K racers, 500K marathoners and over 5 million participants in other distance races. That year there was a decline in racers however a rise in a number of race events (Road Runners Club of America, 2012). With the rise in race events there is also the popularity of entering some races through what is known as a lottery.

These races are extremely popular and must limit entrants through a lottery system, such races are the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler, the Marine Corp Marathon, New York City Marathon, Ironman Triathlon, Barkley (the smaller race, not the one based off the documentary), London Marathon, and so on. But the lotteries pose a question what is consider legal and what is considered illegal lotteries.

What is a Lottery
When it comes to lotteries, in all states including the District of Columbia private parties are not allowed to conduct unlicensed lotteries. For something to be considered a lottery it has three components- consideration/something of value, selection of winners by chance and a prize. A race with a lottery like system, but with no entry fee is considered a sweepstakes and finally a contest is considered a more on the lines of a competition removing the element of chance.
Since 2015 there has been two known lawsuits against race lotteries: NYC Marathon and Ironman.

United States VS World Triathlon Company
The World Triathlon Company is a company based out of Florida that organizes the Ironman events throughout the country. Back in 2015, the U.S. Attorney General in Florida filed suit against the World Triathlon Company for charging athletes in a lottery for a chance to compete in the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii.
At the time the suit was files, the Ironman World Championship had about 2,000 participants and only 100 of them were non-qualifying spots that were open to the lottery. Up until the suit was filed Ironman had charged a lottery fee and those not selected for the race did not receive their money back (Cornwall, W. 2015, May 16).
Per the Attorney General in Florida, this violated Florida law by running an illegal gambling business (United States, 2015). The specific code highlighted in the suit was that per Florida law, an illegal gambling business is that which “involves five or more people, either remains in continuous operation for at least 30 days or has gross revenue of $2000 in a single day and violates the law of the state.” The year the suit was filed 14,254 applicants applied for the lottery, paying a non-refundable $50 (Cornwall, W. 2015, May 16).
In the end the World Triathlon Company who did not agree with the lawsuit, settled with the Attorney General citing that they wanted to focus on the athletes and the events. As a result of the settlement the World Triathlon Company had to pay over $2.7 million in damages, this represented lottery fees since October 24, 2012 (United States, 2015).

Konopa and Clark VS New York Road Runners Inc.
In January 2016, two runners Charles Konopa and Matthew Clark both from Utah and both have entered the New York City Marathon not to have gotten a spot; filed a class action lawsuit against the New York City Road Runners. The lawsuit claimed that the New York City Road Runners who held the prestigious New York City Marathon was conducting an illegal lottery system to reserve the spots for the New York City Marathon (United States. 2016).
Per the lawsuit the number of runners who wished to have enter the race far exceeded the number of open spots, which resulted in the New York City Road Runners opening a lottery system in 1970 (Jennings, R. 2016, January 22) to decide who gets to run in the race. At the time of the suit New York City Road Runners were charging a non-refundable $11 fee to those who entered the lottery; which resulted in multi-millions of dollars being grossed in over several years. In addition, the New York City Road Runners did not have a gambling license nor had applied for one which is required in the state of New York based on the amount of money they grossed from the lotteries (Jennings, R. 2016, January 22).
The result of the case was a settlement from the New York City Road Runners for an undisclosed amount. This also resulted a change in how the New York City Marathon is ran, the lottery became free, therefore the New York City Marathon is now a sweepstakes. In addition, as a result of the lawsuit the fees to run in the race after being chosen went up.

Other Questionable Races
Races such as, Marine Corp Marathon and Chicago Marathon do not qualify as an illegal lottery as it is free to enter the lottery. No money is exchanged unless a spot is won in the race lottery, despite having the “lottery” these are more sweepstakes for these two marathons. Colorado’s Leadville Race Series uses the lottery system they raise money for charity, therefore in cases like this, it is not an illegal lottery (Cornwall, W. 2015, May 16).
However, in 2016, after both Ironman Triathlon and NYC Marathon had settled their claims, there was a former finisher of the Hardrock 100 Mile Endurance race claiming that the race lottery was illegal among other things. In 2016, the Hardrock race had 145 open spots and 1,966 applicants, and had charged a non-refundable application and processing fee, which was discontinued and refunded the prior 3 years, after the runner made his claims. In the end no suit was filed against this race, just a public outcry from one runner; in addition, the Hardrock 100 claimed no wrong doing (Roche, D. 2016, December 8).
Conclusion
In the end the two suits set a precedent that race lotteries had the potential to be illegal per gambling law based on the state laws in which they operate under. Both suits were settled in order to focus on the athletes and the events; although both had different results in settling. In the end, whether this is the end of lawsuits against race lotteries is yet to be determined as the growth of racing continues to rise. Races such as Marine Corp
Marathon, and Chicago are considered sweepstakes instead of lotteries; races like Hardrock are changing their lotteries due to public claims/outcries.

References
Cornwall, W. (2015, May 16). The Ironman Lottery is Dead. Up Next:Your Local Race? Outside.
Jennings, R. (2016, January 22). Lawsuit Against New York City Road Runners Raises Questions About Race Drawings. Runner’s World.
McCue, M. (2015, May 21). Do Race Lotteries Violate the Law? Runner’s World.
Road Runners Club of America. (2012). Road Runners Club of America Coaching Certification Course. RRCA.
Roche, D. (2016, December 8). A Runner Claims Hardrock’s Lottery is Illegal. The Race is Pushing Back. Trail Runner.
United States. (2015). United States District Court Middle District of Florida Tampa Division. Case No: 8:15-cv-
United States. (2016). United States District Court Southern District of New York. Civil Action No. 16-cv-450
Werly, D. (2016, January 26). Breaking it Down: New York City Marathon Sued for $10M+ for Running “Illegal” Lottery. The White Bronco.