Vintage Set Breaks in 2023

[GasHouseGang]

I have to ask. Are these "set breaks" legal? I tried to search online, and attorneys generally seem to agree there are areas of the law that may apply to box breaks and set breaks. With the caveat that the statutes may not apply to all types of box and set breaks and each situation needs to be analyzed individually.

The Cardboard Connection blog had this written by Dale Joerling:

The primary laws that apply to box breaking are state anti-gambling statutes. Virtually every state has some form of these laws. They provide that if a game, sweepstakes, lottery, giveaway, or sale of a product or service has: 1) a prize, 2) an element of chance in determining the winner, and, 3) consideration, i.e. some type of payment or activity to participate, it is an illegal form of gambling.

The principal issue with respect to box breakers would be whether all three of those elements are present: prize, chance, and consideration. Let's break down the basic elements of a box break:

Special, rare, or valuable cards or memorabilia included in some but not all boxes of less valuable cards could be seen as a prize.
Randomly including these more valuable cards in a box could be viewed as creating an element of chance of winning a prize.
Requiring people to buy a box of cards to participate may constitute consideration.
It appears that it may be possible that all three elements could be present in certain box break situations.

Some states have other statutes that could also be applicable. For example, California has a grab bag statute that pertains specifically to using grab bag types of promotions to sell trading cards.

If everyone wins "something" in a box break, does that adequately respond to the illegal gambling issues?

In most instances, the fact that "everyone could win something" is not enough to remove the element of chance. However, if everyone wins the same prize or, in some cases, the same prize value, it could be found that the element of chance has been eliminated because the participants know the value of what they will receive before they make their purchase.

I thought the issue should be brought up since it's so prevalent in our hobby. The answer could be, "It depends."