Guidance on Lotteries

A lottery is where persons pay to participate in an arrangement to win one or more prizes. The prizes must be allocated by a process which relies wholly on chance. Examples are prize draws or Christmas Raffles where tickets are sold in advance of the date of the draw.

The legislation says that you cannot hold a lottery for private gain

Running a lottery

Small societies such as a school or a charity are able to operate lotteries, with tickets being sold in advance of the day of the draw, provided they hold a Small Society lottery Registration issued by their local authority.

The society must be non-commercial. A society is defined as non-commercial if it is established and conducted:

For charitable purposes
For the purpose of enabling participation in, or of supporting, sport, athletics or a cultural activity
For any other non-commercial purpose other than that of private gain.

To be a small lottery the total value of tickets sold for a particular lottery must not exceed £20,000 and tickets sales for separate lotteries in one calendar year must not exceed £250,000. If you exceed these amounts you will be classed as a Large Lottery and will need a licence through the Gambling Commission.

Lottery/Raffle tickets

Lotteries may involve the issuing of a physical or virtual ticket to participants (a virtual ticket
being non-physical, for example in the form of an email or text messages - if it is a virtual ticket the participant must be able to retain the message or print it out) . The purchaser of a small society lottery/raffle ticket must receive a document which identifies;

The name of the promoting society
The price of the ticket (must be the same for all tickets)
The name and address of the member of the society who is designated as having the
responsibility at the society for promoting small lotteries, or (if there is one) the external lottery manager; and
The date of the draw.

Raffle tickets should not be sold in the street (this includes shopping malls).

Children

Lottery tickets may not be sold by, or to, children under the age of 16 years. It is an offence to invite, cause or permit a child to participate in a lottery. Small societies should therefore avoid selling lottery tickets to children or giving tickets to children to sell and should implement effective procedures to minimise the risk of lottery tickets being sold to children

Gambling Commission Guidance on running a lottery

Exempt lotteries

Permission is not needed for exempt lotteries. Exempt lotteries are:

Incidental to a non commercial or commercial event - Raffles held for fund raising purposes where the tickets are both sold and drawn on the same day, either during or after the event, for example a summer fete can be held without any registration or licence. An event is deemed non-commercial if all the money raised at the event, including entrance fees, goes entirely to purposes that are not for private gain
Private Society Lotteries - A private society or group can run a lottery for the benefit of that society. The proceeds can go to a charitable or good cause or for the purposes of the society. Tickets are only sold to members of the society or only on the premises of the society. No registration or licence is needed.
Customer Lotteries - Can only be run by a business at their own premises for customers. There can be no prize over £50 and no profit. The proceeds can go to a charitable or good cause.
Work Lotteries - Can only be run and played by colleagues at a place of work. This type of lottery cannot make a profit. The proceeds can go to a charitable or good cause.

For more information on Exempt Lotteries see the Gambling Commissions Webpage

Returns

The Act requires that following a small society lottery a returns form, showing financial
information, must be completed by the small society and;

Be sent to the Licensing Authority no later than 3 months after the date of the lottery
draw;
Signed by two members of the Society who are appointed for the purpose in writing by
the Society, or if it has one it’s governing body.
Accompanied by a copy of the written agreement of members appointment.

Returns Form