Raffle tickets are not tax deductible, even when the raffle is run by a registered 501(c)(3) charity. The IRS treats the entire ticket price as payment for a chance to win a prize, not as a charitable gift, so no portion of what you paid qualifies for a charitable contribution deduction on your return.1Internal Revenue Service. Publication 526, Charitable Contributions
What the IRS Says
The rule comes from Revenue Ruling 67-246, which looked at a taxpayer who paid $5 for a charity raffle ticket with a car as the top prize. Even though the ticket was labeled a “contribution” and the proceeds went to charity, the IRS concluded that “no part of the payment is deductible as a charitable contribution,” because amounts paid for chances in raffles, lotteries, or similar drawings are not gifts.2Internal Revenue Service. Revenue Ruling 67-246 Publication 526 restates the point plainly: “You can’t deduct as a charitable contribution amounts you pay to buy raffle or lottery tickets.”1Internal Revenue Service. Publication 526, Charitable Contributions
The label on the ticket doesn’t matter. Whether the organization calls your payment a donation, a suggested contribution, or a ticket purchase, the IRS looks at what you actually got in return. You paid money and received a chance to win something. That exchange disqualifies the payment as a gift, no matter what the charity intends to do with the money.
Why the “Donation” Label Doesn’t Help
Section 170 of the Internal Revenue Code only allows a charitable deduction to the extent your payment exceeds the fair market value of what you receive back.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 170 – Charitable Contributions and Gifts This is the “quid pro quo” rule, and it’s the reason some charity-event payments are partially deductible.
A benefit dinner is the classic example. If a charity charges $500 a plate for a meal worth $150, the $350 difference is a deductible charitable contribution. For any quid pro quo payment over $75, the charity has to give you a written disclosure estimating the value of what you received and telling you how much of the payment is deductible.4Internal Revenue Service. Substantiating Charitable Contributions
Raffle tickets fail this test in a specific way. The IRS treats the value of the chance to win as equal to the price of the ticket, so the math zeros out. A $100 benefit dinner ticket where the meal is worth $40 gives you a $60 deduction. A $100 raffle ticket gives you nothing, because the “value received” is treated as the full $100.2Internal Revenue Service. Revenue Ruling 67-246
How to Support the Charity and Keep a Deduction
If your goal is to support the organization and get the tax deduction, make a direct donation and decline the raffle ticket. Revenue Ruling 67-246 acknowledges that a payment made without accepting any ticket or privilege in return can qualify as a deductible gift.2Internal Revenue Service. Revenue Ruling 67-246 You give up the chance to win, but the payment becomes a straightforward charitable contribution.
You cannot split a single ticket purchase into a “donation part” and a “chance part” on your own. The IRS treats the whole payment as consideration for the chance. The only clean way to convert a raffle-adjacent payment into a deduction is to not take the ticket.
Can Losing Tickets Be Deducted as Gambling Losses?
Non-winning raffle tickets can qualify as gambling losses, but the path is narrow enough that most taxpayers can’t use it. Two conditions have to line up: you itemize deductions on Schedule A, and your total gambling losses for the year don’t exceed your total gambling winnings.5Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 419, Gambling Income and Losses
The standard deduction for 2026 is $16,100 for single filers and $32,200 for married couples filing jointly.6Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026 Unless your other itemized deductions already push you past those numbers, itemizing just to claim raffle ticket losses costs more than it saves.
For someone who does itemize, the losses go on Schedule A under “Other Itemized Deductions” and only offset gambling income. If you had $5,000 in raffle winnings and spent $800 on losing tickets during the year, you can deduct that $800. If you had no gambling winnings at all, the $800 gets you nothing.5Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 419, Gambling Income and Losses
Documentation the IRS Expects
Keep the tickets or photos of them, plus notes on the date, the sponsoring organization, and the amount paid. If you participate in raffles or other gambling activity through the year, a diary or log covering all of it satisfies the IRS recordkeeping requirement.5Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 419, Gambling Income and Losses Without records, the IRS can disallow the loss deduction and still tax your full winnings.
If You Win, the Prize Is Taxable
The deduction question flips once a ticket wins. The fair market value of any raffle prize, cash or otherwise, counts as taxable income for the year you win it, and you report it on Schedule 1 (Form 1040), line 8b, whether or not the organizer sends you a Form W-2G.7Internal Revenue Service. Publication 525, Taxable and Nontaxable Income5Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 419, Gambling Income and Losses Non-cash prizes above certain values also trigger federal withholding at the time you claim the prize, which can mean writing a check to cover the tax before you take home a car or vacation package.8Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Forms W-2G and 5754 If you win something significant, look at the reporting and withholding rules before you accept it.