There are two sections to the raffle. The first section is the random pulled numbers, that you do indeed need to be present to win, or someone needs to be at the banquet to be your proxy. Anyone on the staff is always glad to help in that event, if no one from the group is able to come to the banquet.
The second section with the bigger prizes on boards with the donors name featured, is where you do not have to be present to win, and if you buy an advance ticket and can't attend the event we will send out the prize after the fact. In this case, all of the prize were either given to attendees or set aside for mail in winners. There weren't any "re-pulls" or unclaimed tickets.
Many folks ask why we do the raffle. There is a simple answer. As hotel prices go up, we are trying to keep the cost of the convention registration, tours, and display space at a reasonable cost. Prior to 2018, our hotel costs were no more than $16k. This convention the hotel bill was north of $60k. I don't anticipate it going down any time soon. Hopefully, it doesn't go up dramatically after Reno. Without the generous support of the N Scale Manufacturing and Retail community, the convention would have to be far more expensive, or we would likely lose the layout space. I don't want either to happen.
Special to JMaurer1- if you send me an email with the ticket range, I can check the records for you.
NSE George
