Small society lotteries
What is a society lottery?
Society lotteries are lotteries promoted for
the benefit of a non-commercial society. A society is
non-commercial if it is established and conducted:
- for charitable purposes
- for the purpose of enabling participation in,
or of supporting, sport, athletics or a cultural activity
- for any other non-commercial purpose other
than that of private gain.
A small society lottery:
- does not have proceeds that exceed £20,000 for a single
draw
- does not have aggregated proceeds from lotteries in excess of
£250,000 in any one year.
Small society lotteries do not require a licence but must be
registered with the licensing authority in the area where the
principal office of the society is located. Details of registration
requirements and procedures should be available from the licensing
department of the relevant licensing authority. There are other
circumstances in which lotteries do not need
an operating licence from us.
More information about lotteries is available in our
leaflet
Running a lottery - November 2009.
Guidance to licensing authorities - May 2009 sets out the
principles that licensing authorities should adopt in registering
small society lotteries.
Lotteries that exceed the small society
lottery limit
Licensing authorities should inform a society that
they must apply for an operating licence from us if, in the course
of running a small society lottery:
- proceeds exceed £20,000 for a single draw
- aggregated proceeds from lotteries exceed £250,000 in any one
year.
Under the Gambling Act 2005, the licensing authority must
also:
- inform us in writing
- supply a copy of the statement relating to the lottery
- supply statements relating to any other lottery which make the
lottery in question a large lottery.
External lottery managers
Registered societies may employ an external lottery
manager (ELM) to run all or part of their lottery. ELMs must be
licensed by
us.
Page last reviewed: September
2011