Raffle Tickets

Provided you satisfy all of the criteria in 5.3 you can do a raffle in an app. You cannot use IAP to pay for that raffle ticket. There are various requirements that requires you use IAP - for example to unlock content or functionality within an app. So you cannot run a real money raffle to unlock content in an app because that (i.e. unlocking content) would require using IAP and you can't use IAP for a raffle (see things that require IAP in 3.1). But absent the requirement to use IAP, for example to raffle real world products (actually you can't use IAP for a real world product) you can do a raffle - but see 5.3 criteria for gaming.

>thinking that this is Apples's in app purchase platform

5.3 Gaming, Gambling, and Lotteries, is not a sub-section of Section 3 Business/In-App Purchase.

Clear your head from that and look it over again...

Thank you for your help in this. I am confused in IAP vs Stripe credit card payments. Is IAP (in app payments) only refering to apple's IAP system? Or does this extend to third party payment processors, ie: Stripe?

Or to put it more clearly, can I use Stripe credit card procssessing to sell raffle tickets through the app? As in, you put your credit card info in, I sell you an entry into a draw.

>can I use Stripe credit card procssessing to sell raffle tickets through the app?

It depends on what the meaning of the word "through" is. But I'm pretty sure the answer is: "no; 'through' would be 'in the app' and 5.3.3 disallows that." Perhaps you can configure your "through" so it is not "in the app".

The "P" in "IAP" is "Purchse". A purchase involves consent, delivering product, providing a means of payment and executing that payment. In IAP you use Apple's provided software to signal to the app that a product is requested (for example "I want 2 raffle tickets to the Hourse Raffle") and you use Apple's system as the means of payment (that is, the credit card the user provided to Apple many years ago) and you use Apple's agreement with the credit card processor and with the developer to funnel, from the credit card's bank, 70% of the price through Apple to the developer's bank. Finally, you use Apple's software and the app to provide the product.

You can't do that for a raffle - see 5.3:

5.3 Gaming, Gambling, and LotteriesGambling, gaming, and lotteries can be tricky to manage and tend to be one of the most regulated offerings on the App Store. Only include this functionality if you’ve fully vetted your legal obligations everywhere you make your app available and are prepared for extra time during the review process. Some things to keep in mind:

• 5.3.1 Sweepstakes and contests must be sponsored by the developer of the app.
• 5.3.2 Official rules for sweepstakes, contests, and raffles must be presented in the app and make clear that Apple is not a sponsor or involved in the activity in any manner.
• 5.3.3 Apps may not use in-app purchase to purchase credit or currency for use in conjunction with real money gaming of any kind, and may not enable people to purchase lottery or raffle tickets or initiate fund transfers in the app.
• 5.3.4 Apps that offer real money gaming (e.g. sports betting, poker, casino games, horse racing) or lotteries must have necessary licensing and permissions in the locations where the App is used, must be geo-restricted to those locations, and must be free on the App Store. Illegal gambling aids, including card counters, are not permitted on the App Store. Lottery apps must have consideration, chance, and a prize.

Sorry, still not clear. I hope to be clear here.

Functionality in the app:

1) Click on a button to buy a "ticket" to the raffle draw. (Draw is a 50/50 type draw where winner gets 50% of total pot, and 50% goes to the charity supported through the app).

2) Once clicked, users are directed to a credit card screen (in the app itself), where they enter their credit card details, and they click submit on the app.

3) Once submitted, there is a https post request that gets sent to a website (hosted by Amazon), which produces a token, and then verified on the Stripe's servers. Stripe then sends back a response back to the app that the charge was completed.

4) Once payment was confirmed and that response is sent to the app, the ticket, or entry is then entered into a database (hosted by Amazon).

The payment doesnt actually happen "in the app" but the app just send the request for payment and the accepts the response that the payment happened. The magic happens in a non-apple server running non-apple software.

So, again my question is, can Stripe handle payment of raffle tickets. As in, does this remove the liability for apple?

Thanks.

PS...you seem to say in this thread, that this is ok, but again, I maybe be misinterpreting what you are saying.

https://forums.developer.apple.com/message/288940#288940

And I do appreciate the help.

I'm not sure that in ....."you seem to say in this thread, that this is ok" ... the meaning of that second "this" is the same as what you are proposing.

Again:

"Apps .....may not enable people to purchase lottery or raffle tickets or initiate fund transfers in the app."

What you described will appear to the user as if they are doing it in the app. App Review may object, or they may not. It depends on the meaning of the words "in the app" to the App Reviewer. It also depends on "initiate".

So......A) if it is transparent to the user that the purchase (through Stripe/Amazon, etc.) is not being done in the app then 'NO'. B) If instead you require that the user close the app, open Safari, log into their account on your website and make the purchase using Stripe, get credits from that purchase in their account, reopen the app and log into their account on your website, and only then buy raffle tickets in the app then 'YES'. Anywhere in between - unclear.

I think you can try in the app saying

"You will now be taken outside of the app to our website where you will be able to make purchases of Coins that can be used to purchase Raffle Tickets."

and you border a UIWebView within the app so it's clear it's a 'different environment than the app', then you will most likely be ok. But this is all, IMHO.

Thank you. This helped me see the issue. Also, the "initiate" is a key word as well that I glossed over.

Again, many thanks.