Small Premises Lotteries - General Information

When you need to register with your local authority

You will need a small society lottery registration from your local authority if you:

• sell less than £20,000 in tickets from a single lottery, or less than £250,000 in a calendar year
• plan to sell tickets to the public in a lottery, or outside of an event, private club, workplace, business or place of residence

Visit small premises lotteries application forms to apply.

How much does it cost?

Normally, you will need to complete an application form and pay a £40 registration fee to the Council.

You will need to pay a £20 renewal fee at the end of the first year and each year thereafter to maintain the registration.

Rules for small society lotteries

The rules around small society lotteries that you must follow are:

• at least 20% of the lottery proceeds must be applied to the purposes of the society, also known as 'The Good Cause'
• no single prize may be worth more than £25,000, even if it is donated
• you cannot sell more than £20,000 of tickets in a single lottery, or £250,000 in any one year
• you can roll over prizes to another lottery run by your society, but that prize cannot be worth more than £25,000
• every ticket in the lottery must cost the same, and the society must take payment for the ticket fee before entry into the draw is allowed
• you can sell tickets door to door, online, by telephone or face to face, but you cannot sell tickets in a street, including passages through shopping malls
• you must send details of your lottery to the local authority it is registered with, no later than three months after the lottery is drawn. The local authority will have a specific form to use for this.

Find out more about how to run a small society lottery.

Incidental lotteries

You can only run an incidental lottery to raise money for charity, not for private gain.

You do not need a licence from us to run an incidental lottery, but you must make sure you follow the rules to run an incidental non-commercial lottery legally.

Lotteries or raffles can be held at events such as:

• fetes
• fairs
• fundraising dinners
• festivals

The lottery cannot be the main reason for holding the event. It must take place alongside a commercial or non-commercial one-off event.

Ticket requirements

You must provide physical tickets to those taking part. There are no set requirements for what must be printed on the tickets, as long as you can identify which ones are the winning tickets. For example, you can use cloakroom tickets.

There is no limit on how much you can charge for a ticket, and you can apply discount tickets for multiple purchases, such as buy one get one free.

You can sell tickets for an incidental lottery to children.

Tickets can only be sold at the event location and while the event is taking place. You cannot sell tickets online, which includes social media, or in advance of the event. 

Find out more about how to run a fundraiser with lotteries or raffles at events.

If you are going to hold a lottery, please read the guidance from the Gambling Commission on organising small lotteries.

Gambling Statement of Principles