If you're a charity, or other non-commercial organisation, and wish to run a small lottery, or raffle, to raise funds, you may need to register with us. Your principal office must be based in Haringey.
Eligibility
Definition of a society
You're a society if, as defined in The Gambling Act 2005, you're established and conducted:
- for charitable purposes
- to enable participation in, or of supporting, sport, athletics or cultural activities
- any other non-commercial purpose other than private gain
Definition of a lottery
You're running a lottery if:
- participants pay to take part
- one or more prizes are given to one or more participants
- allocation of prizes is done by a process of chance
Exempt lotteries
You do not need to register with us if your lottery is an:
- incidental non-commercial lottery – commonly held at a charity fundraising event
- private – such as a work Christmas raffle
- customer lottery – only customers at the business premises take part
- your ticket sales class you as a large lottery (see below)
Value of ticket sales
You’re classed as a small society lottery if the total value of tickets for sale:
- per single lottery do not exceed £20,000
- for all lotteries in a calendar year do not exceed £250,000
Sale values higher than this are classed as a large lottery.
To operate a large lottery you must get an get an operating licence from the Gambling Commission instead.
Register your small society lottery
If your lottery is not exempt and not classed as a large lottery, you must register with us as a small society lottery.
Please complete the lotteries and raffles application form
Fee
£40.
Renewal
You must renew your registration by 1 January each year.
Please complete the lotteries and raffles renewal form
Fee
£20.
Organising your lottery
Ticket information
All lottery tickets must state the:
- name of the society promoted by the lottery
- price of the ticket
- name and address of the society member responsible for the promotion of the lottery
- date of the draw
- that the society is licensed by the local authority
Cost of tickets
When setting a price for your tickets, understand that:
- every ticket in the lottery must cost the same and payment must be taken before entry into the draw is allowed
- there is no maximum price for a ticket
Prizes
No single prize can be worth more than £25,000.
Mailing tickets
To minimise the risk of fraud, use one or more of the following measures when mailing lottery tickets:
- don't send tickets to society non-members unless they ask for them
- limit the value of tickets sent to one address of a non-society member to £20, or maintain records of tickets sent out and not returned
Social responsibility
Only those 16 and over can play in a lottery.
Lotteries are a form of gambling. You must ensure children and other vulnerable people are not exploited.
Further information about social responsibility requirements is available in the Gambling Commission's licence conditions and codes of practice.
After your lottery
Proceeds
At least 20% of the lottery proceeds must go to the purposes of your society.
Financial records
Records must:
- be retained for at least 3 years for each lottery
- be available for inspection on request
- show details of the total proceeds of each lottery
- show the lottery expenses
- show the number of sold and unsold tickets
Lottery returns
Please complete and return the lotteries and raffles return form within 3 months of the day of the draw or last draw.