About lotteries (raffles)
Lotteries (also known as raffles) cannot be
run for private or commercial gain.
Lotteries are defined by the Gambling Act 2005
as either ‘simple’ or ‘complex’.
A simple lottery is where:
- people are required to pay to take part
- prizes are allocated to participants
- prizes are allocated wholly by chance.
A complex lottery is where:
- people are required to pay to take part
- prizes are allocated to participants
- prizes are allocated by a series of processes the first of
which relies wholly on chance.
There are several types of lottery:
Large society lotteries and lotteries promoted by local authorities
require a licence from the Gambling Commission. Small society
lotteries can operate under a registration with their local
authority. Other types of lottery do not require specific
permission but there are rules that must be complied with
(see
Organising
small lotteries - November 2009 for further
information).
Lotteries differ from other types of gambling activity in that
the minimum participation age is 16 for society lotteries and local
authority lotteries, as opposed to 18 for other types of gambling.
There is no minimum age requirement for other types of
lotteries.
Raffles, tombolas and sweepstakes are all types of lottery. Free
prize draws and prize competitions are not types of lottery
(see
Prize competitions and free draws - the requirements of the
Gambling Act 2005 - December 2009 for further
information).
Lotteries can be run by means of
remote communication including
the internet, telephone etc. Large remote society lotteries and
remote local authority lotteries require a remote lottery operating
licence issued by the Gambling Commission.
The National Lottery is regulated by the
National Lottery Commission.
More information about the National Lottery can be found on their
website.
Statistics about the lottery sector
are available on our website.
Page last reviewed: January 2012