Sun and Fun Floss
located in Werribee, Victoria
Example of a Fundraising Prize Wheel Design
First, you should know that a custom design can be made for any of the 4 prize wheels, to make a profit. It's all about how many odds are designed for any prize/s, how many wedges you have, and what value the prizes are - which should be relevent. Relevent to the cost and the number of paid spins at the event, and relevent to the odds/chances of winning a particular prize/s.
In this example, we have used the Fortuna Wheel.
Note:
We had to use a couple of mis-matched wedge labels here, while waiting on more new vinyl inserts to arrive. To avoid some possible confusion about the labels, don't be concerned about it - the info below makes it clear.
So if you just focus on the COLOUR of the wedges, it makes sense.
Our design plan:
GREEN is a 'free gift'.
PURPLE is a 'chocky'.
MAROON is a 'raffle ticket' - not 1st prize.
BLUE is a 'free product voucher"- not free drink.
GOLD is a "bottle of Jack Daniels" or similar value prize ($50).
LOSER is a loser!
Here you see that, with 40 pins to land on, the 'cheapest' prizes have the most likelihood of being won. With this chosen example, the odds are as follows, for 100 spins:
GREEN is 9 in 40 chance = 1 in 4.44 chance of landing on it.
PURPLE is 8 in 40 chance = 1 in 5 chance off landing on it.
MAROON is 9 in 40 chance = 1 in 4.44 chance of landing on it.
BLUE is 12 in 40 chance = 1 in 3.33 chance of landing on it.
GOLD is 1 in 40 chance = 1 in 33 chance of landing on it.
BLACK is 1 in 40 chance (of losing) = 1 in 33 chance.
THE PRIZE PLAN IN THIS EXAMPLE:
GREEN is a free gift, costing $2.50 ea which is purchased.
PURPLE is a block of chocolate, costing $3 to $5, or possibly free for a charity.
MAROON is a Raffle Ticket, to go in the draw for the $50 prize - a bottle of Liqueur.
BLUE is a Voucher, costing nothing if you approach a couple of local businesses.
GOLD is the Winner of a 'top' prize, donated by a local person, business, or group eg a packaged foods basket, or a new 'toaster', fluffy blanket, picnic set, office organiser set, bathroom goodies basket, or any nice item that can be physically displayed. For old-fashioned fun, it's exciting to actually see the prizes, ready to take, which is more tempting too.
We think this is a nice balance between having physical prizes to take home, with instant gratification; and offering the easier choices of vouchers, chocolates etc.
But of course, if you don't like to offer say, vouchers, or a small 'free gift display' for example, you can swap the prizes for something else. You then need to calculate the cost of those prizes, and the odds, to ensure your profits are still in mind.
Obviously the higher the value of the prizes (or the frequency that they can be won), the more you can comfortably/successfully charge for a 'spin to win".
Remember - boring prizes means bored players/slow spenders.
In a nutshell, we calculated the following results, as per above example:
Example no 1, with $5 spin tickets being sold (ie $500), the profit* was $412.50 .
This is when the chockies are free, and the free gifts cost $2.50 ea.
Or with same as above, but with chockies costing say $3 ea (large blocks at supermarket on sale very often, don't pay $5,) the profit* was $334.50.
Example no 2, with $10 spin tickets being sold (ie $1000), the profit* was $897.50.
This is with chockies being free, and 'free gift' upgrade cost $3.50 ea.
Or with the same as above, but the chockies costing say $3 ea, the profit* was $819.50.
Of course, you can make more profit using this example wedge design, simply by reducing the value/cost of your prizes. But bear in mind that you need to induce the crowd to spend, so if the chance of winning something nice is meagre, your profit may suffer.
An example though, is to replace the block of chocky to a chocolate bar, when buying this prize. Another example is to reduce the cost of the Jackpot prize from $50 to $30. Another example is to increase the number of pins/wedges to win a voucher.
With these spin results, we see:
FREE GIFT was won 15 times, costing $37.50.
CHOCKY was won 26 times, costing nothing*.
RAFFLE ticket was won 25 times, costing $50.
VOUCHER was won 31 times, costing nothing.
WINNER was not won.
LOSER was hit 3 times!, costing nothing.
With $500 takings, gross profit was $412.50.
*With no free chocky, profit was $334.50.
With $1000 takings, gross profit was $897.50.
*With no free chocky, (and including the 'upgrade' free prize, costing $3.50, not
$2.50 ea), profit was $819.50.
*Calculated profit is before the Prize Wheel rental cost is deducted.
Don't forget our Honeywell lockable cash box, rent at $6.
We have 'bun bags' for the hip too.
Spin to
Win!
There's nothing wrong with charging say $7-8 per spin, (or $12 for that matter) and people will give you notes and coins in any case. (Why $5 increments?)
You can sell pre-paid tickets for a spin to win at the coming event. But without the prizes and excitement as found at the event, you can surely miss out on 'cash sales' when people have loosened up, and SEEN THE REALITY of winning something can be about 3 in 4, and feeling more 'generous' or lucky amidst their comrades having a good time.
Of course, you can work in a different way to offer prizes with this wedge design 'template', which may include a 'good old-fashioned carnival style Wheel of Chance', where ALL prizes are a cute but fabulous gift.
(And not just 50 plush fluffy teddies to choose from!)
We have tons of great small gifts, which attach to our prize board easel/display, from $2.50 ea. Useful carry home gifts (no, not a potato peeler!) that are for all ages. We search hard for special low cost gifts.
Remember too, that you can't beat a good old cash prize to get people's interest. Not only is it a very easy prize/s to create, there's no-one who couldn't make use of the prize.
If you book a wheel well in advance, a club could even collect the planned prize money in a collection tin at the bar/reception etc. A dollar here, $2 there, can add up to a Jackpot prize... to hopefully win on the night. Or at least, it could pay for the rental of the wheel.
