Who gets the raffle TV: the ticket holder or the buyer?

• Author: Cohen, Randy
• Position: THE ETHICIST - Brief article - Column

I took my teenage daughter and one of her friends to my company's annual outing, a baseball game and raffle. The grand prize was a 47-inch TV. Coincidentally, the friend mentioned that her family needed a new TV, and, as fate had it, she held the winning ticket. After the game, we took the TV to her house. Her mother was delighted but said that since I paid for the tickets, the TV was mine. Is it?

Stuart Ilkowitz, Livingston, N.J.

THE TV belongs to your daughter's friend. When you gave her that ticket, you gave her all attendant benefits. Her claim has nothing to do with her family's need for a TV. It's simply a random bit of good fortune for the person holding the winning ticket: her.

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The decision would have been trickier if you had physically held on to all the tickets and ushered your crew into the block of seats you had bought. Then you could argue that the prize goes to the ticket...