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An Act To Allow a Maine-chartered Financial Institution To Conduct a Savings Promotion Raffle
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 17 MRSA §1831, sub-§5, as enacted by PL 2009, c. 487, Pt. A, §2, is amended to read:
 
5. Game of chance. "Game of chance" means a game, contest, scheme or device in which:
 
A. A person stakes or risks something of value for the opportunity to win something of value;
 
B. The rules of operation or play require an event the result of which is determined by chance, outside the control of the contestant or participant; and
 
C. Chance enters as an element that influences the outcome in a manner that cannot be eliminated through the application of skill.
 
For the purposes of this subsection, "an event the result of which is determined by chance" includes but is not limited to a shuffle of a deck of cards, a roll of a die or dice or a random drawing or generation of an object that may include, but is not limited to, a card, a die, a number or simulations of any of these. A shuffle of a deck of cards, a roll of a die, a random drawing or generation of an object or some other event the result of which is determined by chance that is employed to determine impartially the initial order of play in a game, contest, scheme or device does not alone make a game, contest, scheme or device a game of chance. For purposes of this chapter, beano and, bingo and a savings promotion raffle are not games of chance.
Sec. 2. 17 MRSA §1831, sub-§13, as enacted by PL 2009, c. 487, Pt. A, §2, is amended to read:
 
13. Raffle. "Raffle" means a game of chance in which:
 
A. A person pays or agrees to pay something of value for a chance, represented and differentiated by a number, to win a prize;
 
B. One or more of the chances is to be designated the winning chance; and
 
C. The winning chance is to be determined as a result of a drawing from a container holding numbers representative of all chances sold.
 
"Raffle" does not include a savings promotion raffle.
Sec. 3.  17 MRSA §1831, sub-§14-A  is enacted to read:
 
14-A.  Savings promotion raffle.   "Savings promotion raffle" means a promotion offered by a financial institution authorized to do business in this State as defined in Title 9B, section 131, subsection 17A or a credit union authorized to do business in this State as defined in Title 9B, section 131, subsection 12A in which the sole consideration required for a chance of winning the designated prize in the raffle is the deposit of at least a specified amount of money into a savings account or other savings program and in which:
 
A.  The savings account or other savings program provides interest at a comparable rate to other savings accounts or savings programs offered by that financial institution or credit union, with the interest accruing for the benefit of the account holder, and allows account holders access to deposited money;
 
B.  The total of the designated prizes for each raffle does not exceed $1,000 or the fair market value of $1,000 in cases when an item or items of merchandise are the designated prizes;
 
C.  The promotion is offered no more than 2 times per year; and
 
D.  The terms and conditions of the promotion are disclosed to account holders and prospective account holders of the financial institution or credit union.
 
Effective 90 days following adjournment of the 124th Legislature, Second Regular Session, unless otherwise indicated.