ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- The New York State Legislature passed the Charitable Gaming Act in December 2017 and then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed it into law.

However, it took until June of this year for the state Gaming Commission to finally adopt regulations allowing authorized organizations to sell raffle tickets on the internet and mobile platforms.

"It's pretty amazing it's taken five years to get to this point and it was a law that was a long time coming," state Sen. Pat Gallivan said.

Gallivan, who sponsored the legislation, said few organizations have taken advantage of the new opportunity he believes due to a lack of publicity and because they must gain approval from the commission.

"I would imagine over time, we will see many organizations large and small taking advantage of this, and of course the bigger ones, I think will be the foundations connected to our professional sports teams," he said.

The Buffalo Bills Foundation believes it is one of the first and almost certainly the largest so far to sell 50/50 raffle tickets online.

"We believe we were the first application because we submitted as soon as we were able to," Executive Director Michelle Roberts said.

Tickets for the first drawing, which will happen around the fourth quarter of Monday night's home opener, have been available since Friday.

"The last couple of home openers when we've had fans, we have been around that $200,000 mark so we said coming out, with the ability to sell online, we're going to guarantee a $200,000 jackpot so somebody will win at least $100,00 on Monday night," Roberts said.

That means the foundation is hoping to raise at least $100,000 for charitable efforts in the region in just one game. Roberts believes the new regulations should lead to significantly more funding over the course of the season.

"Generally speaking, the Buffalo Bills Foundation supports local charities here in Western New York. We are currently focused on health and wellness and specifically, we are strategically focused on increasing access to healthy, nutritious foods for families," she said.

People must register at Bills5050.org and there are controls in place to make sure contestants are in the state when they purchase the ticket, are at least 18 years old and are not part of the voluntary self-exclusion list for people struggling with gambling addiction.