The Gambling Act 2005 defines this by looking at two distinct areas:
- Society status
- the society in question must be 'non-commercial'
- Size of lottery
- the total value of tickets to be put on sale per single lottery must be £20,000 or less, or
- the total, combined value of tickets to be put on sale for all their lotteries in a calendar year must not exceed £250,000.
- If the operator plans to exceed either of these values, they will be classed as a large lottery operator. This means they must be licensed with the Gambling Commission instead.
Those running a small society lottery must be registered with a licensing authority. This must cover the whole time the lottery is promoted.
The licensing authority must be in the area where their main office is located. If a licensing authority believes that a society’s main office is in another area, it should inform the society and the other authority as soon as possible.
Incidental non-commercial lotteries
These do not require to be registered with the Council. These are raffles which are held at non-commercial events, such as school fetes, etc. All the sales and the draw must take place during the main event. It can last more than a single day. Prizes can not total more than £500.
Please see the Related Publications below and the Gambling Commission website for more details on Lotteries.
Related Publications
Useful Links
