Fund-Raiser Might Violate U.S. Law

A raffle to raise money for a local Red Cross chapter would hardly raise eyebrows. But the International Committee of the Red Cross’ plan to host a worldwide lottery over the Internet may pique the interest of U.S. law enforcement officials.

The Geneva-based humanitarian organization expects to raise at least $1 billion by the turn of the century with the game Millions 2000. People from all around the world can enter the drawing by purchasing tickets at https://www.millions2000.com with their credit cards.

“We have had to take a long, hard look at how we can fund our humanitarian causes into the next millennium,” ICRC Secretary Gen. George Weber said in a statement.

Entrants pay $10 for a ticket, which is good for one entry in every monthly drawing from the time the ticket is purchased until Jan. 1, 2000. Prizes include cars, Caribbean cruises and laptop computers, according to the Web site. In addition, 2,000 entrants will win $1 million in cash.

The contest is being administered by Plus Lotto, a company based in the tiny European country of Liechtenstein. According to rules posted on the Millions 2000 Web site, “legal advisors to Plus Lotto are of the opinion that, when entering the Millennium Draw through the Internet . . . players are traveling to Liechtenstein where the transaction takes place.”

But U.S. criminal laws forbid the use of wired communications networks, such as the Internet, to place bets overseas. The maximum penalty for doing so is a $250,000 fine, two years in prison or both, said John Russell, a spokesman for the Justice Department.

Russell said the department could not comment on whether it would be illegal for someone in the U.S. to participate in the Red Cross lottery specifically, but the agency has stepped up enforcement in this area. In recent months, the department has indicted more than a dozen U.S. citizens for their roles in running offshore Internet gambling businesses.

The American Red Cross will decide in the next few weeks whether it will participate in the fund-raiser, said Anne Stingle, media relations manager for the group in Washington.

“We wanted to kind of let it work its way through the newness in terms of the technology, the accountability and the safety of money transferability,” she said.

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Karen Kaplan can be reach via e-mail at karen.kaplan@latimes.com