THUNDER BAY – It only took five weeks for the Fort William Rotary House Lottery to sell out.
Lottery co-chair David Knutson says he’s astounded it happened so quickly, with zero open houses to entice buyers.
And yet, just over a month into a planned seven-month selling period, all 16,000 tickets have been gobbled up by the public.
“We were just completely amazed by that short period of time. We only had last year’s experience and … we were selling tickets into October. This year we elected to take that same extended sales period. We added a number of cash draws to try to keep people’s interest in the lottery into October, and here we are five weeks into it and we’re sold out,” Knutson said.
“It’s just an amazing result.”
Knutson said he thinks a number of factors played into the rapid response from ticket buyers.
First and foremost, with no open houses, people weren’t waiting to take a tour of the home, valued at $642,000, to pick up their tickets, which were one for $100 and three for $250.
Online sales also helped, making it easier for consumers to click and pay.
Finally, the pandemic also played a role.
Knutson said people seem to have more time on hand and, with travel and extra-curricular activities curtailed in large part, more money to spend.
“One thing we can’t underestimate is the convenience of being able to go onto a dedicated website and make that order fairly quickly. We love to have the open houses, we like to showcase the builders’ work … but since we have the website and we have a video tour on the website, I think it’s just that convenience of being able to get on and complete the transaction quickly,” Knutson said.
“I think the other thing is everyone is fatigued from the COVID situation and perhaps they’ve got a lot of time on their hands at home, or time to be surfing the net. On the other hand, it’s something to look forward to. You have the cash draws and the big grand prize. Maybe it will be coming at a time when you’re looking at the tail end of COVID.”
Money raised is distributed to local charities and Knutson said because they sold out so quickly, it’s likely they’ll receive a bigger share because of reduced expenses.
The draw is scheduled for Thanksgiving.
