Best Local Raffles in Madison, WI: 2026 Local Guide

The verified raffles you can actually enter in Madison right now are the Wisconsin Tavern League Foundation's 2026 calendar raffle, sold at member taverns for $20, and the monthly meat raffles at VFW Post 1318 on Ski Lane. Everything else on this list is seasonal: Brat Fest's 50/50 raffle returns with the festival, the PBS Wisconsin Garden & Green Living Expo raffle runs again in February 2027, and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul–Madison car raffle closed its sales in June and drew in July.

One rule shapes all of it. Wisconsin does not allow raffle tickets to be sold online, so a genuine Madison raffle is bought in person, from a licensed nonprofit, with a paper ticket. That single fact is the most useful filter a reader can apply.

Verification note: Program terms and availability can change. This page was checked against linked sources on October 21, 2026.

The one raffle running all year: the Tavern League calendar raffle

A calendar raffle is a single $20 purchase that enters you in a daily drawing for the whole year rather than one drawing on one date. According to the Tavern League of Wisconsin's 2026 calendar raffle page, the Wisconsin Tavern League Foundation's calendar is open for January 1 through December 31, 2026, gives the buyer 365 daily chances, and pays cash prizes between $100 and $1,000. The Foundation is the charity arm of the Madison-based Tavern League, and its page posts winners by draw date.

Because the 2026 calendar is already most of the way through its year, a purchase today buys the remaining daily draws, not a full 365. That is a real limitation worth weighing against the $20, and it is the main reason to treat this as a January purchase in future years. Odds depend on how many calendars exist.

The raffle's prior-year rules capped the print run at 10,000 calendars at $20 each, which is the ceiling that sets the per-draw odds. The 2026 terms are published separately and may differ, so read the rules document linked from the Foundation's own raffle page before assuming last year's cap still applies. Calendars are sold through member taverns, not from a central website.

If you want one, ask at a Tavern League member bar in the Madison area.

Meat raffles at VFW Post 1318, and why you should call first

A meat raffle is a walk-in event: you buy tickets on site, usually for a dollar or two, and winners take home packaged meat from a local butcher or grocer. VFW Lt. Marion C.

Cranefield Post 1318 runs them at its post home at 2740 Ski Lane in Madison. The post's own news page lists a meat raffle on Saturday, October 24, 2026, from 3 to 5 p.m., with earlier 2026 raffles on January 24, February 28 and September 26. That pattern matters for planning.

Post 1318's raffles are roughly monthly and clustered on Saturday afternoons, not weekly, so a drop-in on a random weekend is likely to find nothing scheduled. Call before you drive out. A third-party raffle calendar lists the same October event on a different day and in a different time slot than the post does, and the post's own page is the one to trust.

Post 1318 lists (608) 255-5955 and [email protected] as its contacts; a two-minute call confirms the date, the start time and whether tickets are cash-only.

Seasonal Madison raffles and when they come back around

Two well-established Madison raffles run only inside a fixed window, which is why they do not belong on a "buy today" list. Brat Fest runs an annual 50/50 raffle in which half the pot goes to a single winner and half goes to Brat Fest Charities. Per Brat Fest's 50/50 raffle page, it is tied to the Memorial Day-weekend festival, so tickets are not purchasable outside that weekend.

The prize is a share of whatever is sold, not a fixed amount, so the payout rises with attendance. The PBS Wisconsin Garden & Green Living Expo raffle runs on site at the Alliant Energy Center, with all proceeds going to the station. At the 2026 expo, tickets were $3 each, four for $10 or ten for $20 at the PBS Wisconsin booth near the main entrance; prizes included a raised garden bed and gift certificates, and the drawing was at 3 p.m.

Sunday with winners not required to be present. The expo returns February 12–14, 2027 at the Alliant Energy Center and is already asking exhibitors to donate raffle prizes, so the raffle is expected to repeat — but no 2027 ticket price or prize list has been posted. The Society of St.

Vincent de Paul–Madison's "Drive Change" car raffle is the biggest-ticket local example and the one that is fully closed. It sold 5,000 tickets at $100 each for five vehicles, ran May 4 through June 30, 2026, and drew on July 1 at Russ Darrow Mazda of Madison. A fixed 5,000-ticket run makes the odds unusually legible for a raffle; put it on a spring 2027 watch list rather than hunting for tickets now.

Why you can't buy a Madison raffle ticket online

This is the part that sends readers in circles. The Wisconsin Department of Administration's Division of Gaming states plainly in its guidance on internet raffles that online raffles are not permitted, because the statutes require pre-printed tickets whose stub carries the buyer's name and contact information. An electronic entry cannot satisfy that.

The practical consequences are short:

• A legitimate Madison raffle ticket is bought face to face, from the nonprofit or a seller it authorizes.
• A website offering to sell you entries into a Wisconsin raffle is operating outside that guidance — treat the offer as a reason to stop and verify directly with the nonprofit.
• An organization's own page may *advertise* its raffle online, as the Tavern League Foundation and the expo do, and that is different from selling the ticket online.
• Keep your stub. It carries the identifying details the rules are built around.

How to tell a licensed raffle from a lookalike

Wisconsin licenses raffles rather than leaving them open to anyone. Under the Division of Gaming's 2026 charitable gaming overview, only Wisconsin-headquartered nonprofits that have existed at least a year may run raffles, licensed under Wis. Stat.

ch. 563. A Class A license covers advance ticket sales; Class B covers same-day sales only.

Each licensee is capped at 365 raffles a year plus one calendar raffle, and the 2026 handout lists a $50 Class A fee. Those categories explain the formats you encounter. The Tavern League Foundation's year-long calendar is the single calendar raffle a licensee is allowed.

A VFW meat raffle where you buy tickets at the door and the drawing happens that afternoon is the Class B shape. A months-long car raffle selling tickets ahead of a single summer drawing needs Class A. So a quick sanity check before you hand over money: the seller is a Wisconsin nonprofit, the ticket is pre-printed with a stub for your name, the rules and drawing date are written down somewhere you can read them, and advance sales — if there are any — come from an organization that would hold a Class A license.

The Tavern League Foundation posts winners by draw date, which is the kind of follow-through worth looking for.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I enter the Tavern League calendar raffle partway through the year?

Calendars are sold through member taverns across the 2026 run, but a late purchase buys only the daily draws left between the purchase date and December 31, 2026.

Do I have to be present to win a Madison raffle?

It depends on the raffle's own rules. The PBS Wisconsin expo raffle drew at 3 p.m. Sunday and did not require winners to be present; a meat raffle drawn in the room generally does, so ask when you buy.

Does a nonprofit raffle give me a tax-deductible donation?

A raffle ticket buys a chance to win, which is not the same as a donation, and the organizations above do not advertise it as deductible. Ask the nonprofit directly and check current IRS guidance before claiming anything.