Melbourne Cup Sweep - Everything You Need

The most fondly recognized race that stops the nation is finally going to happen. Melbourne cup is the most awaited horse race event throughout Australia.

It’s the most important and well-celebrated 3 o’clock of Australia’s time on the first Tuesday of November where people across Australia will witness 24 horses race to the finish line as more states beyond Victoria are gathered to celebrate this once-a-year social event at Melbourne’s prestigious Flemington Racecourse.

Hosting a Melbourne Cup Sweep is an excellent way for everyone to get the chance to experience the excitement and thrill of getting involved in the Melbourne Cup.

If you are ready to throw in some fun to your Melbourne Cup office Sweep but don’t know how to start, these bits of information on how to organize an office Melbourne Cup Sweep and how to play a sweep will give you a headstart.

Melbourne Cup Sweep is open for everybody in Australia who wants to participate in the exciting racehorse during the Melbourne Cup event. It is done by a group of people gathered to pool their money to purchase tickets that represent the name of the racing horse during the Melbourne cup.

The sweep is a lucky draw competition or a sports lottery which means that the tickets with the corresponding horse name are selected randomly. There’s no skill needed to enter the sweep, people pay a low-cost amount and the money collected will be divided among the first, second, and third prize winners. However, you can decide on making your sweep at any price you want to enter. The higher the entry cost, the higher the prize for the winners will be.

The Melbourne Cup sweep is more popular for first-timer and non-professional punters who just want a convenient way to enjoy betting without the complexities of having to know the statistics of the Melbourne Cup and want to do away from using a betting agency or online bookmaker.

It is legal to hold a Melbourne Cup office sweep, but some rules need to be followed. There are two types of Melbourne Cup Office sweeps in Australia namely common sweep and Calcutta sweepstakes or auction.

In a common sweep or regular sweep, a person purchases the ticket that corresponds to a given horse, and the prize consists of the pool money from the ticket sales. The distribution of the winning funds mostly depends on the organizer, but the one who holds the first prize usually gets the lion’s share.

Calcutta sweepstake on the other hand is where participants bid on the horse they want to back but there are more restrictions on this. In Victoria, a Calcutta can only be done with a permit issued by the Minister of Racing.

Prizes can consist of goods, money, and gift vouchers but tobacco products, firearms, ammunition, weapons, and cosmetic surgery are prohibited while in New South Wales, liquor amounting to 20 liters are not allowed and sales of tickets must not exceed $20,000. Prizes in victoria must not exceed $5,000.

It’s straightforward, and there’s no skill involved in playing the Melbourne Office Cup sweep. The first step is to buy a ticket for the sweep. Each participant has the chance to draw a Melbourne Cup horse until each horse has been assigned to everyone involved in the sweep.

The pool money consists of the proceeds from the ticket sales. It is then divided among the lucky ticket winners. Generally, the first winner usually gets half of the pool money while the other half is divided among the second, third, and even fourth place. But then again, it is eventually up to the organizer on how the money will be distributed.

Follow these steps to run a Melbourne Cup sweep:

• You need to download and print the Melbourne Cup Sweep template.
• On the day of the race check if there are horses that are no longer running in the Melbourne Cup. This method is called “scratchings”. If there are then remove them from your sweep.
• Cut out the tickets of horses that are running on that day and place them in a bowl. If you have more than 24 participants, just print out another set to make sure that there are more horses to go around.
• Invite the participants to pay and draw the tickets.
• Write down and record each person’s horse that they drew.
• Once the race is over, you can now determine who won.
• Announce the winners to your punters and award the prize.
• Enjoy the rest of the day indulging in good foods and drinks.

Cash is the most common prize that a winning participant gets in the sweep. For an average office sweep, participants pay between $1 to $20 for each drawn horse.

However, cash is not the only choice you have in awarding the winners. If you decide to have gifts instead of cash, the amount of the gifts should match the amount that the winners will receive in the prize pool.

Some of the well-liked sweep gift prizes include a fine-tasting bottle of champagne, good-quality chocolates, and a gift certificate.

Virtual office sweep is the best option for people working from home or who may not be able to get out to meet up with family or friends due to restrictions. They still get the chance to enjoy the Melbourne Cup virtually.

An online Melbourne Cup sweep is the platform available for those who wish to participate online. Here are the steps to follow:

1. Fill out the number of participants. Note that you may end up having a different number of horses for each person depending on how many participants or if there are no scratchings in order to fill out the 24 horses.
2. Click the “Generate Sweep”
3. Share the generated sweep with participants either you print it or by sharing it online.
4. Wait for the result of the race.
5. Once the race is over, announce the winners through the online platform you are using.
6. In the virtual sweep generator, the first prize gets 60% of the total pool prize, 2nd prize gets 25%, 3rd prize gets 10% and even the horse that comes last will take home 5% of the total pool prize.

When the pandemic happened, running the Melbourne Cup sweep online has been a convenient and fun way of celebrating the Melbourne Cup. Since half of the country is working from home in these extraordinary times, a virtual office sweep is a perfect setup to not break the Melbourne Cup tradition.

Here’s the step-by-step guide for organizing a sweep for people working at home.

1. Make an alphabetical list of people joining your sweep.
2. Once you have the final list, get them all together on an online platform like Zoom or Google meet or whatever video app that is more convenient for everyone to use.
3. For transparency, you need to share your screen in order for everyone may see the actual sweep being played.
4. Be sure to have the link on the random number generator ready before you begin to assign the corresponding horse to the participants.
5. Once everybody is on board on the video call, share your screen and click the link on the random number generator.
6. Once it opens, click on “generate” and it will automatically show the numbers from 1 to 24 under the word “result”.
7. The numbers represent the horse that the participant will have. For example, if Alice is the first name in your alphabetical list and the generator pop-up No. 8 then she will have the horse number 8 in the sweep.
8. Make sure that you record this down beside the name of Alice and cross out the number 8 list of horses in the Cup.
9. Do this step for the rest of the participants in the sweep.
10. If you eventually click the generator and shows a number that has already been assigned to someone else then click the generator again until a number shows up that is not taken by anyone else.
11. If people are having more than one horse then go back to your alphabetical list and start the process all over again.

You can celebrate and bring in the fun of the Melbourne Cup sweep whether virtually for people working from home or for an office group. Organizing it is easy and simple to do. Celebrating the Melbourne Cup will never be complete without good food and drinks.

That said, head on to Mr T’s Melbourne Cup Menu and check out the yummy catered gourmet finger foods and finger food platters to make the sweep even more exciting and enjoyable.