Raffle
An evolution of the Quintile Lottery that keeps the on-chain, no-house contract shape but swaps the fixed tier structure for configurable prize distribution. Spec only — the distribution modes are documented; the real-world entry-gating mechanic is formally undecided.
Personal opinion only, not legal advice. Real-money raffle mechanics in the United States touch state-by-state gambling and charitable-gaming statutes that require real legal review. Nothing here represents that any of this is lawful in any jurisdiction. If the design ever leaves spec, where and how to deploy it is a decision for counsel, not for this page. The canonical path stays free-play on Sepolia testnet.
The shift from Quintile
Quintile is a small lottery with fixed tiers — Grand · Top · Second — and a fullness curve that arms the round. The raffle keeps the contract’s auditability, self-custody, and no-house promise, but makes the prize distribution itself a parameter. The operator picks a distribution mode when the raffle is created; the contract does the rest.
Tickets are entries, the pot is the prize, winners are drawn from the entry set, and the split is whatever the chosen mode dictates. The thing being optimized is plain, public legibility — not yield engineering.
Prize distribution modes
A raffle is created with one of the following distribution modes — or a combination of them across nested pools:
| mode | winners | split |
|---|---|---|
| Grand-prize, magnitude-scaled | Top winners only. | Prize scales by magnitude across the top winners, in the spirit of the Quintile tier rule — a steep curve concentrated at the top. |
| Decile, equal | The drawn top ~10% of entries. | Every winner receives an equal share. No grand prize — a flat, broad payout. |
| Quintile, equal | The drawn top ~20% of entries. | Every winner receives an equal share. Wider winner set than decile, still flat. |
| Combination | Mixed. | Any composition of the above — e.g. a magnitude-scaled grand-prize pool carved off the top with a flat decile/quintile pool beneath it. |
The two axes are independent: how many entries win (decile vs. quintile vs. a small grand-prize set) and how the pot splits among them (flat-equal vs. magnitude-scaled). Combination mode lets a single raffle stack a concentrated top pool over a flat broad pool.
Entry gating — formally undecided
This section is conceptual. The raffle needs an entry-gating mechanic that is usable in the real world without overpromising legality. No mechanic is committed to. The candidates below are recorded so the trade-offs are explicit; the choice is deferred pending the legal posture above.
| candidate | how it would gate | trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Access-token / badge hold | Entry requires holding the access token or a badge-receipt, leaning on an artifact the user already holds. | Provable on-chain; ties the raffle to an existing exploratory token concept. |
| On-chain ticket hold | Entry requires holding a transferable on-chain ticket/NFT minted for the round. | Provable and transferable; closest to a real-world “had a ticket” record. |
| Off-chain allowlist / code | A signup allowlist or redeemable code managed off-chain authorizes entry. | Easiest to operate within real-world constraints; weaker on-chain provability. |
| Redeemable claim | A claim issued through some real-world action is redeemed for entry. | Flexible; depends entirely on how the claim is issued. |
Until that decision is formally made, the raffle stays on the free-play testnet path. Any gated mainnet path would be entered only if the jurisdiction’s legal posture is deliberately resolved first.
Posture, licensing, and free-play
The free-play Sepolia path is canonical — tickets cost zero real value, the mechanic can be inspected, simulated, and pulled apart at no risk. A potential local-mainnet path would be gated (see above) and only resolved per jurisdiction. The default assumption is that this remains gated or unavailable in most jurisdictions.
The raffle contract, if and when it ships, would be released under the same open-source license as the Quintile contracts — readable, auditable, forkable, not run as a closed service.
Status: spec / personal-opinion notes. Distribution modes documented; entry gating formally undecided. No deployed raffle contract, no live address, no instructions for raffle use here. The active lottery demo is Quintile Lottery.