Definition of a lottery
In simple terms a lottery is a kind of gambling that has three essential elements:
- payment is required to participate
- one or more prizes are awarded
- those prizes are awarded by chance.
This is set out more formally in the Act which defines two types of lottery, a simple lottery and a complex lottery.
An arrangement is a simple lottery if:
- people are required to pay to participate in the arrangement
- in the course of the arrangement one or more prizes are allocated to one or more people in a class the prizes are allocated by a process which relies wholly on chance.
An arrangement is a complex lottery if:
- people are required to pay to participate in the arrangement
- in the course of the arrangement one or more prizes are allocated to one or more people in a class
- the prizes are allocated by a series of processes
- the first of those processes relies wholly on chance.
In addition, section 14(5) of the Act (opens in a new tab) stipulates that, for the purpose of these definitions, a process that requires people to exercise skill or judgment or display knowledge is to be treated as relying wholly on chance if:
- the requirement cannot reasonably be expected to prevent a significant proportion of people who participate in the arrangement from receiving a prize
- it cannot reasonably be expected to prevent a significant proportion of people who wish to participate in the arrangement from doing so.
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Meaning of society and local authority lotteries
Last updated: 7 June 2021
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