Small society lotteries

If you run small society lotteries you may operate without a Gambling Commission licence provided you register with us.

Small society lotteries:

• have £20,000 or less worth of tickets put on sale
• aggregate proceeds from lotteries do not exceed £250,000 per year

Your society must be registered with the local authority in the area its principal office is located.

Tickets:

• must be priced the same
• contain the name and address of a person who is responsible for the lottery
• contain the date of the draw
• can't be bought or sold by under 16s

Rollover of prize funds are permitted as long as the total for any single prize does not exceed £25,000 or 10% of the proceeds of the lottery.

We can inspect records for any lottery so you should keep records for all unsold and returned tickets for a year after the draw. Returns for each lottery have to be completed and sent to us within three months of each draw. You must show that at least 20% of the total proceeds raised have gone to one of the purposes for the society was created.

The fee for a new lottery registration is £40.

Payments can be made:

• over the phone by card or via BACS
• with cash in person
• by cheque in the post