by Rod Hughes
Schools, the Lion’s Club, senior citizen’s homes—all have been inadvertantly acting illegally since 1998 by organizing raffles even for charity.
This was the legal ruling this week of the Procuria General de la Republica, acting as the government’s attorney.
It all stems from a slight glitch in the law that makes the National Lottery surpreme. That code specifies that the only exception are charities given approval to hold lotteries by the provincial governor.
The only problem is that governor post, which had been largely ceremonial for decades, was eliminated by the 1998 municipal reform act. This leaves a legal black hole that was filled by permission given by the JPS, Junta de Proteccion Social, the body that runs the National Lottery, disbursing the proceeds to hospitals and other needy social benefit organizations. But the JPS has no legal power to grant exceptions, the Procuria chief Fernando Castillo says.
Public schools oftimes use lotteries to obtain specual funds when the budgets cannot cover paint or new desks. The Lion’s Club funds a number of charitable projects by using lottery proceeds. The legal vacuum puts them in a bind, relegating them to the status of a “numbers racket,” the clandestine raffles that once were a mainstay of the Mafia in the United States.