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Originally Posted by JustinD
This is very incorrect, as is what else was being stated on this.
In actuality, you are more likely to receive nothing in a high end break. The breaks are seldom cases, and even those are often nothing. A box of high end can contain less than 10 cards, those breaks are most often sold by player…the entire set list. A set can contain 100 players or more, though often repeated. There is no chance of everyone receiving a pull.
I have honestly participated in maybe 4-5 of these on a lark for specific rookies and can state I am 0-5 on receiving anything.
Guaranteed breaks cost quite a bit and are done by card position in the pack per lottery. These are done for vintage pack breaks also. Those can be hundreds for a card position, while player breaks tend to be less than 20 bucks.
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As I've understood it, from and on a purely technical standpoint, all "breaks" can probably be considered as a form of gambling. Gambling laws are generally state laws, and thus vary from state to state, and can further vary by the different types of "breaks" there are and the rules they follow. But generally speaking, for an activity to be considered gambling it must be found to involve three very distinct elements.
1. A prize (money or something of value a person can get from participating).
2. An element of chance in determining the winner of the prize(s).
3. Consideration (some type of payment or activity performed to participate).
Pretty much every "break" contains all three elements if you consider some rookie, game used, autographed, or otherwise short-printed cards as potentially being more valuable cards (prizes) that are randomly inserted (chance) into packs/boxes of cards that you then pay to get (consideration) some of as part of a "break". But here's the funny part, you don't have to take part in a "break" to meet those three gambling elements. Just going to a store or dealer to buy a pack or box of cards to open yourself seems to meet and fulfil all three gambling elements as well, doesn't it? So why hasn't Topps, Panini, or any other card company been brought up anywhere on illegal gambling charges yet? Think about that real hard. This is why it is often assumed that as long as everybody gets something in "break", the element of chance is removed because the value of the cards being sold are all technically the same, based on what the manufacturer sells each pack/box of cards for. And this is likely why many Breakers, to my understanding, make sure all "break" participants get some cards, even if the "break" they participated in originally resulted in them getting no cards.
Now over time, no Breaker has as of yet to my knowledge had any state come after any one of them for running an illegal gambling operation. So, is it any surprise that some Breakers would eventually just run "breaks" as you described, where participants can end up getting nothing and the Breakers just quit bothering to send those unlucky people anything, as has happened to you on multiple occasions? In this case, I think such "breaks" where participants can end up with nothing really are true gambling activities, but for whatever reason(s), state and local prosecutors have not yet found it fit to go after and try prosecuting them. Maybe it has to do with there being bigger fish for prosecutors to be looking to go after and fry, so to speak, or the possible negative public perception of wasting time and money going after people just selling baseball cards.