Sportsman's Pro Membership Sweepstakes, is it legit?

[spectrum]

Is anyone else here paying for the pro membership sweepstakes operated by Michael Deming? I cancelled mine today. I've been participating for 5 years and never won a thing. My gut has started telling me something isn't quite right and when my gut speaks I listen. I have been a member of the Rocky Mountain Elk foundation for years and over the past 4 years I have won 4 guns and there are a lot more participants in those drawings. These are some questions I started asking myself about the Pro Membership Sweepstakes: Why don't they use a program like random name picker where participants can verify that their names are entered in the drawing. The ticket tumbler with printed hand cut tickets being pick out by Deming himself leaves a lot of room for error and dishonesty. Not to say that Deming is doing anything dishonest but over the years in my profession I've been taught to trust but verify, lives depended on it. It also appears that Deming goes on a lot of hunts himself to check out the outfitters as he says. Is he paying for these hunts out of his pocket, or is it taken out of the money generated by the raffles? I'm going to go with he latter. I'm thinking a lot more hunts could be added to the sweepstakes instead of Deming going on them to check them out as he says. I've been hunting for approximately 40 years and I'm sure I could tell you if an outfitter was good or bad if I was on a hunt with them. I'm also sure there are probably a lot of reviews out there already on the outfitters before Deming even looks at them as a participant in the sweepstakes. Oh yeah don't call Deming out either just to ask if your ticket is actually in the barrel, or he will try to embarrass you on his drawing video like he did one participant, real class act if you ask me. Just my 2 cents.

 

[def90]

You‘ve won 4 guns in 4 years from RMEF? I’ve never won a single sweepstakes in my entire life..

 

[Rich M]

OP has won 4 guns, that’s exceptional and i can see why there is some expectation to win raffles. I stopped doing raffles cause i never won. Always figure if i get tix, it is giving money to the cause.

Deming helped set me and my group up with a guide service, for free. Talked to him for about 10 minutes and he made an introduction.

I did google him and saw his raffle videos. Pretty much relied upon the other guy, who made the introduction to Deming, that things were legit.

It seems like he gets the hunts to raffle by providing referrals to the guide services.

I also researched the guide service i was referred to and could not find a negative review or comment, all positive stuff.

Not sure what he charges for membership for the raffle thing. From my experience with him, he did me right.

 

[Wvroach]

Seems like you may have unrealistic expectations given your experience with rmef.

I wouldn't say it seems fishy to not win any prizes. Heck I'm a life member of quite a few organizations and I've never won anything.

That isnt why I joined though. I joined to support the cause behind the org, I'd rather they not do the raffles or sweepstakes and use that money towards the reason the organization exist. I understand that is what draws in new members and keeps annual members though.

 

[spectrum]

Not saying he's a bad guy, actually cracks me up sometimes. I just think the drawings should be set up to where people can actually verify that their tickets are in the barrel like the system I mentioned earlier. As far as the guns I have won, those are the first things I've won out of years of supporting the Elk foundation. I purchase a table for the banquet every year, not because I expect to win something, but because its a good time with the family and it supports the cause. I'm not rich either if anybody is assuming, I make under 6 figures. I was trying to remember what cause the pro membership supports other than providing paid guided hunts to winners. And def90, I thought I was the unluckiest person alive but I think you have me beat.

 

[ScottR_EHJ]

I will step out and say it is legit as we partner with him. We work with Mike regularly and I talk to his clients regularly as they have the option to include TagHub with their membership to Pro Membership Sweekpstakes. These guys win.

 

[spectrum]

This isn't directed at anyone in particular, but I've studied psychology enough to know if you buy raffle tickets you have some hope in your mind that you could win, if not why don't you just donate to the cause directly and bypass the raffle? It all comes down to cost, reward, and probability and I think most people have some kind of understanding that they are probably not going to win that often if at all. If you grasped the content of the paragraph ( reading comprehension) its wasn't about winning or losing, it was about probability and transparency on how the draw is done and what money is being used for Deming to go on all these hunts, and maybe that money depending on where it comes from could be used to provide more hunts to the participants of the raffles. I'm still waiting for some one to tell me what cause they support aside from providing guided hunts in raffles and Ill donate without being part of the raffle.

 

[TexDoc]

I have also been a member of the Pro Membership Sweepstakes for the past 4 years and, like you, have never won a thing. I also referred three people which means I should have several additional tickets in the drum. Also like you, I have been a member of much larger organizations like RMEF, DU, and NWTF and have at least won something small on a fairly regular basis, but have also won a (one) rifle in a national level drawing having been a member of these organizaitons for over a decade and a half.

I have nothing against Mr. Deming, seems like a good dude, probably fun to hunt with...but there was a period of time that Indiana residents would sweep the drawings and after 4 years with 3 drawings per month (by my math that's 144 drawings per year, with what should be 15 tix in the drum (for referral bonuses)... out of anywhere from 2200 people to the current cap at 2500 people participating) I figured I might have won a friggin coffee mug by now...but i digress...we'll go with 2500 people and since the total number of tickets in the bin are unknown lets just go with drawing without replacement (the ticket is not returned to the hopper after they are drawn) to represent the odds of drawing something on any given draw, assuming 6 things are given away.

On the big ticket item (usually a hunt) and always the first thing drawn, I put your chances of winning at 1/2500 or .0004% (not good), your chances of winning something at across the 6 items are essentially 1/2500 x 1/2499 x 1/2498 x 1/2497 x 1/2496 x 1/2495 = also about .0004% (not really any more bueno) there would need to be far fewer people in the pool, or far more prizes given away for your odds to improve much. This is where some people have taken issue with the same folks being drawn with some regularity, either the are the luckiest SOBs on the planet, they have referred so many people that that have a huge number of tickets in the bin, or something else....

This isn't a terribly expensive membership but as others have pointed out, when you buy a raffle ticket from a conservation group or charity then you are making a donation, when you a buy a raffle membership from Pro Membership Sweepstakes you are buying a non tax deductible lottery ticket. This will likely be my last year playing it, I can easily invest the $297 bucks in ammo, gear or tags each year. I like the concept but it sure seems tough to win anything with those odds.