I vaguely remember that the French expression "par raccroc" means precisely "by chance". Perhaps this word has been in the English vocabulary since Norman times, perhaps it is of relatively new adoption. In any case, a common everyday word it is not.

As to "tombola", in Spain we have a much older version of Forrest Gump's "Life is like a box of chocolates" in our wise saying "La vida es una tómbola"... In raffles, as in chocolate boxes, you never know what you are going to get.

Marianna
[on-the-way-to-becoming-something-or-other-with-one-of-these-posts-emoticon]

Darn! Still a stranger?