DENVER — For the 15th consecutive year, the Mile High Raffle benefiting the Boys and Girls Club of Metro Denver will not give away a home.
The raffle, also known as the Dream House Raffle, will have its grand prize drawing on Friday. When fewer than 80,000 tickets are sold, the grand prize is cash. On Friday, the grand prize will be cash.
A spokeswoman with the Boys and Girls Club said in an email that the raffle sold “just under 50,500 tickets.”
The home that was to be raffled off is in the Belcaro neighborhood near Cherry Creek Drive South and South Garfield Street, just southeast of the Cherry Creek Mall.
With all the talk about the rising home values and property taxes, it is important to note that the assessed home value increased from $4.5 million to $7.1 million. That projected property tax increase of that home is about $13,000.
In March, prompted by a viewer question, the Boys and Girls Club spokeswoman said that it agrees to a pre-negotiated price to buy the home if enough tickets get sold. However, she would not say if the nonprofit pays to hold the home during the raffle.
“We do not disclose that information because it may put us at a competitive disadvantage in future negotiations with homeowners. Any costs such as that would be part of the administrative costs of the raffle,” she said.
Charities that run raffles must submit records to the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office. Those records include a list of expenses associated with the raffle.
In 2022, the records included a line-item on Feb. 25; a $70,000 expense for “House option agreement for House Raffle.”
That home from last year, like all the others, was not raffled. It is located next to the home being raffled this year. According to the records from the city of Denver assessor’s office, Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton now owns last year’s raffle home.
In the previous 14 years of the raffle, Boys and Girls Club of Metro Denver has paid NZ Consulting in 12 of them. NZ Consulting is Neal Martin Zeavy. In those 12 years, Boys and Girls Club paid him $4.7 million to run the raffle.
The San Diego Union-Tribune did an investigation that found multiple charities in the western United States paying Zeavy $17 million to run home raffles that rarely gave away a home.
Zeavy did not return a call in March, nor a call, text or email message on Wednesday.
Again, the rules of the Boys and Girls Club raffle are clear that if fewer than 80,000 tickets are sold, the grand prize reverts to cash.
In 2022, the Mile High Raffle took in $7.8 million.
Of that, $2.6 million, about one-third of a donation, covered the prizes.
Another $2.7 million, also one-third, were proceeds kept by the Boys and Girls Club of Mero Denver.
And $2.4 million, not quite one-third, went to expenses to run the raffle.
According to the nonprofit, the raffle has distributed nearly $20 million in cash and prizes over its 14-year history.
This is not to be mistaken with Children’s Hospital Colorado Foundation Mighty Millions raffle, which has given away a home each of the eight years it has held a home raffle.
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