Yellowknife (July 12/06) - Raffles are a time-honoured tool of the savvy fundraiser.

But it seems Yellowknifers aren't interested in buying, according to First Yellowknife Scout leader Eric Brown.

"It's really strange," said Brown.

The Scout troop is fundraising to celebrate the 100th year of scouting next year in England, where the first scout camp was held.

The troop decided to raffle off a boat.

The Scouts have been doing their best to sell the 4,000 $20-tickets since the Caribou Carnival weekend, but have only sold 1,200 so far. Brown and his troop weren't ready to give up, so they went to city hall to get the raffle licence extended until August.

Brown said the Scouts would be satisfied selling 3,000 tickets.

But one out of three raffle licences are extended because of poor sales or few volunteers to sell the tickets, said city financial officer Rob Waddell.

In his opinion, raffles don't always succeed because the prizes aren't new or exciting.

He said there are between three to five raffles going at any time.

Licence costs depend on the value of prizes.