Lotteries

Raffles and lotteries have to be registered under the Gambling Act 2005. This Act defines all lotteries, which do not constitute gaming, as illegal but there are exceptions to this general rule such as small lotteries and private lotteries which do not require registration.

Small society lotteries

We register small society lotteries. These are lotteries promoted for the raising of funds for sporting, charitable or benevolent purposes. A typical society lottery would be a local school or a local amateur football club.

Lotteries not promoted by societies or where the value of the tickets for sale in a lottery exceeds £25,000 have to register with the Gambling Commission.

Small society lottery tickets

Tickets sold by a registered society must contain the following information:

• 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 responsibility at the society for promoting small lotteries, or (if there is one) the external lottery manager
• the date of the draw, or enables the date to be determined.

Apply for a small society lottery licence

You will need to download a licence application from this page, complete it and return it to us with the right payment.

You can return your completed application by email or post to the details in the contact details section on this page.

Notify us of returns

You must notify us of the results within 3 months of the date of the lottery taking place, using our returns form. You can download it from this page and return it by email or post.

Renewing licences

If you want to continue to be licensed for small society lotteries, you must renew with at least 2 months of the current licence left.

How much does it cost?

It costs £40 for a new registration and £20 for a renewal.

If you need a copy of an existing licence this costs £5.

You can pay for licences by debit or credit card through our online system.

Pay for your lottery licence application