Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada - August 20 (registered)

In Nova Scotia, we can run raffles, actually. You have to apply for a license under the Gaming Control Act - the license is free, but you lose 2.13% of proceeds to the government in tax. It takes a little pre-planning and attention to the rules, but it's legal and lots of charity and community groups do it.

Actually, I think most provinces can run raffles (possibly not in Quebec) but I know in BC unless you are a registered charity it is very difficult to get a license, if not impossible, and it's never been worth it for us. We did look into it the first year when we had an autographed script from Ron Glass, but ended up giving it as the grand prize. Now we do the silent auction, grab bags, contest prizes and door prizes, so we probably have enough going on.

Yeah, I didn't really mean that we can't, just that it is very difficult and in some places, almost impossible, as samatwitch says.

Congrats on the successful events

In Toronto we tried the silent auction but same as you we got very few bids. Since then we have had a live auction. We have only one show and our auction is after the show.
We also have a merchandise table that we have open before and after the show.

We've never tried a live auction, but we made just under $2000 on our silent auction this year with less than 200 people. Maybe we should try it.