Judge to decide on future of raffles for St. Louis-area charity

CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) -- A judge will decide Friday if a St. Louis-area charity must stop upcoming raffles of expensive homes and cars to raise money for spinal cord research.

Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Gateway to a Cure, alleging that the charity "engaged in unlawful merchandising practices" by raffling off expensive homes, cars and other prizes, then not delivering the prizes as promised.

St. Louis County Circuit Judge Barbara Wallace will hear a request Friday at an 11 a.m. hearing for a preliminary injunction to stop ticket sales for the charity's pending raffles.

The lawsuit also has asked that the charity refund ticket-buyers their money.

Lou Sengheiser, Gateway to a Cure's president, founded the charity 10 years ago as a way to raise money for research into spinal cord injuries after his son was paralyzed in an accident.

"We're going to fully cooperate to get this resolved," Kelly Kress, the charity's attorney, said Thursday. "Gateway has never knowingly violated the law. We are going to do everything we can to correct this."

The Missouri attorney general's office began investigating the charity after receiving complaints from people who bought raffle tickets.

Last month, the charity agreed to pay an undisclosed amount of cash to the winner of a $1.3 million house in the Kansas City, Mo., suburb of Parkville because it had not sold enough tickets to pay for the house, or for a $200,000 Bentley automobile that was promised as part of the grand prize.

The charity also is raffling a $212,000 house in southern Calhoun County, Ill., and a $3 million-plus home in Orlando, Fla.

As of March, 10,643 tickets have been sold for $25 each for the Orlando "Dream Home," and at that rate, it would take the charity about 28 years to break even, according to the lawsuit.

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Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com