Social Media Raffle Licences
Request
- How many social media raffle licences have you granted?
- Please tell me which ones have a licence?
- Do they have to display their licence number?
- How are they audited?
Response
Thank you for your request which has been processed under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).
In your email you have requested:
- How many social media raffle licences have you granted?
- Please tell me which ones have a licence?
- Do they have to display their licence number?
- How are they audited?
The Gambling Commission can confirm as follows:
Question 1:
The Gambling Commission does not hold any information in relation to social media raffle licences, as they do not exist. Raffle is a term commonly used to describe a type of lottery, but is also commonly used to describe what in law is known as a prize competition or free draw.
Question 2:
Prize competitions and free draws do not require a licence to operate. They sit outside of the Gambling Commission’s regulatory remit as long as they meet rules that distinguish them from a lottery. These rules are set out in the Gambling Act 2005. Further information about this type of arrangement can be found here - Free draws and prize competitions.
Arrangements such as raffles seen on social media may be run as prize competitions or free draws and can be run for private or commercial gain. The Gambling Commission does not collect information about these arrangements as they are not subject to our regulation.
Our only role in relation to these arrangements is to monitor the boundary with lotteries and act where we consider that an arrangement does not meet the requirements for prize competitions and free draws. In that case it may be an unlicensed lottery or some other form of unlicensed gambling. This could make that arrangement illegal activity.
Lotteries are defined under Section 14 of the Gambling Act 2005. To run a lottery, an appropriate society lottery operating licence or local licensing authority registration is required. That is, unless the lottery meets requirements that make it an exempt lottery.
An exempt lottery is a lottery that is exempt from requiring a permission to run, but it still has rules about how it must be offered. These rules can be found in Schedule 11 of the Gambling Act 2005.
There are no exemptions that allow lotteries to be run remotely (i.e. online or via another form of electronic communication). This means that arrangements that meet the definition of a lottery and are offered via social media must hold a society lottery licence or registration.
Society lottery licences and registrations can only be held by non-commercial societies. Essentially organisations that are not for profit or private gain. Society lotteries in Great Britain must be run for fundraising purposes.
Society lotteries with proceeds (ticket sales) over £250,000 in a calendar year, or £20,000 in an individual draw require appropriate licences from the Commission to run. Lotteries with proceeds below that must hold a local authority registration.
Licences are required to offer lotteries:
- face to face/ in person (e.g. in charity shops, at events, by post, door to door) - called a non-remote society operating licence; and
- via electronic communication (e.g. online, by email, on a mobile device, over the phone) – called a remote society lottery operating licence or an ancillary remote society lottery operating licence.
Information about the number of lottery licences can be found here - Industry Statistics.
We do not hold or collect data that specifies if draws are run or promoted via social media.
Question 3:
Non-commercial societies that hold a remote society lottery licence must display their licensed status in a specified format on their websites and mobile applications (full details here) and show:
- a statement that they are licensed and regulated by the Commission.
- their account number.
- a link (which will be supplied by us) to their current licensed status as recorded on our website.
Question 4:
All licensed gambling operators (including lotteries) are subject to compliance audits. Here, we can refer you to our Licensing Compliance and Enforcement policy statement - Licensing, compliance and enforcement under the Gambling Act 2005 - 2 - Assessing risk - which sets out a high level how we undertake our licensing, compliance and enforcement work. Compliance assessments are not undertaken in respect of each licensee each year as we are risk-based organisation.
Review of the decision
If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your Freedom of Information request you are entitled to an internal review of our decision. You should write to FOI Team, Gambling Commission, 4th floor, Victoria Square House, Victoria Square, Birmingham, B2 4BP or by reply to this email.
Please note, internal review requests should be made within 40 working days of the initial response. Requests made outside this timeframe will not be processed.
If you are not content with the outcome of our review, you may then apply directly to the Information Commissioner (ICO) for a decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have already exhausted the review procedure provided by the Gambling Commission.
It should be noted that if you wish to raise a complaint with the ICO about the Commission’s handling of your request for information, then you are required to do so within six weeks of receiving your final response or last substantive contact with us.
The ICO can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office (opens in a new tab), Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.
Information Management Team
Gambling Commission