Lotteries
Information for running lotteries and raffles including guidance for External Lottery Managers (ELMs).
Overview
Under the Gambling Act 2005, an arrangement is a lottery if it satisfies one of the following descriptions.
Lotteries fall under two categories.
An arrangement is a simple lottery if:
- people are required to pay in order to participate in the arrangement
- in the course of the arrangement one or more prizes are allocated to one or more members of a class
- the prizes are allocated by a process which relies entirely on chance.
An arrangement is a complex lottery if:
- people are required to pay in order to participate in the arrangement,
- in the course of the arrangement one or more prizes are allocated to one or more members of a class
- the prizes are allocated by a series of processes
- the first of those processes relies entirely on chance.
You can read more about the legal definition of lotteries in Part 1 section 14 of the Gambling Act 2005 (opens in new tab).
Guidance
Information on lotteries, local authority lotteries and External Lottery Managers (ELMs).
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Society lotteries
Information for societies who want to run a lottery or raffle, and what the regulations are around such lotteries.
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Guidance
External Lottery Managers (ELMs) - Lotteries
Information on External Lottery Managers and their role in arranging a lottery on behalf of a society or local authority.
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Guidance
Promoting society and local authority lotteries
Advice for society and local authority lotteries which require a licence or registration September 2014 (updated July 2020)
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Guidance
Promoting multiple society lotteries
Advice for society lotteries, local authority lotteries and external lottery managers promoting individual lotteries under one brand.
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Guidance
How to run a lottery or fundraiser
Check if you need a licence to run a lottery or fundraiser and make sure you are fundraising legally.
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Guidance
Lotteries toolkit
This lottery toolkit contains advice, quick guides and case studies to help you in your regulatory responsibilities.
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Guidance
Lottery proceeds - Advice note April 2013 (Updated July 2020)
Advice for society lotteries, local authority lotteries and external lottery managers about the requirements relating to the distribution of lottery proceeds.
Legislation and Policies
Gambling in Great Britain and the Gambling Commission's duties and responsibilities are detailed in the Gambling Act 2005.
The following legislation and policies are also applicable to operating licence holders.
Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP)
The LCCP outlines the requirements that all operating and personal licence holders must follow.
Policies and guidance
The following guidance and policies are also relevant for all licensees.
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Policy
Licensing, compliance and enforcement under the Gambling Act 2005
The Commission’s approach to risk underpins its licensing, compliance and enforcement functions.
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Policy
Statement of principles for licensing and regulation
The Commission's statement of principles for licensing and regulation.
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Policy
Statement of principles for determining financial penalties
The Commission's statement of principles for determining financial penalties.
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Guidance
Other policies, advice and guidance notes
We are gradually removing PDF's from our website. Find published advice notes and guidance in PDF's we've not yet converted.
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Guidance
Anti-money laundering legislation
Anti-money laundering legislation and regulatory codes of practice operators must comply with.
Licences and fees
There are different types of licence that lottery businesses may need to apply for, you may need more than of the following:
We issue operating licences and personal licences; premises licences are issued by local licensing authorities.
Types of operating licence
An operating licence allows you to provide gambling activities to customers in Great Britain.
Licence activities
You can apply to us for a licence to provide lotteries in a premises (non-remote) or online (remote).
Activities
All activities
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Non-remote external lottery manager operating licence
This licence allows you to manage a lottery on behalf of a society or local authority.
Further details and fees
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Non-remote society lottery operating licence
Society lotteries can only be run for good causes and cannot be run for private or commercial gain. Local authorities can promote a lottery to raise funds to spend on anything where they have power to incur expenditure.
Further details and fees
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Remote external lottery manager operating licence
This licence allows you to manage a lottery on behalf of a society or local authority.
Further details and fees
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Remote society lottery licence
Society lotteries can only be run for good causes and cannot be run for private or commercial gain. Local authorities can promote a lottery to raise funds to spend on anything where they have power to incur expenditure.
Further details and fees
Non-remote licence activities
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Non-remote external lottery manager operating licence
This licence allows you to manage a lottery on behalf of a society or local authority.
Further details and fees
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Non-remote society lottery operating licence
Society lotteries can only be run for good causes and cannot be run for private or commercial gain. Local authorities can promote a lottery to raise funds to spend on anything where they have power to incur expenditure.
Further details and fees
Remote licence activities
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Remote external lottery manager operating licence
This licence allows you to manage a lottery on behalf of a society or local authority.
Further details and fees
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Remote society lottery licence
Society lotteries can only be run for good causes and cannot be run for private or commercial gain. Local authorities can promote a lottery to raise funds to spend on anything where they have power to incur expenditure.
Further details and fees
Fees
The fees you need to pay depend on what you are applying for, and what your anticipated gross gambling yield (GGY) is.
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Guidance
Fees you need to pay and when you should pay them
Information on the fees for each licence, when these will need to be paid, and the payment methods you can use.
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Guidance
Annual fees
Information and guidance about annual fees for operating licence holders.
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Guidance
Paying fees
Find out how to pay fees to the Gambling Commission.
Calculating your fees
Our online fees calculator can help you with understanding the amounts of your application, first annual and annual fees.
Personal Management Licences
Personal Management Licences allow people to work in certain roles in a gambling business.
Some businesses do not require personal licences to be held. Instead, you need to submit an Annex A. These are required for businesses with three employees or less.
Annex A
If your business qualifies as a small-scale operator, you can submit an Annex A instead of applying for a Personal Management Licence.
Getting a licence
You can apply online for a licence from us to provide lottery activities.
Information you'll need for your application
We will ask you to provide information about you and your business as part of your licence application.
Apply online
You can use our online service to apply for an operating licence.
If you have not used the service before, you'll need an email address only you can access to be able to create an account.
Make sure you include all the information we ask for when you submit your application. If your application is rejected because something is missing, we will not refund your application fee.
Assessing your application
If your application is rejected
We will send you a letter explaining which documents are missing and you'll need to reapply online.
You must provide the missing documents, as well as the documents you included originally, and you will need to pay the application fee again.
Your licence
If we grant you a licence to run a gambling business, you will be able to download a copy of your licence from eServices.
You must make your licence available for inspection by request from Gambling Commission staff, licensing authority staff or other official bodies such as the police or fire service.
When you hold a licence
An important part of the Gambling Commission’s work is to ensure that licence holders are compliant. Compliance requires licence holders to understand and act in accordance with:
- the Gambling Act 2005
- regulations (statutory instruments) made under the Gambling Act 2005
- the Licence conditions and codes of practice (LCCP)
Compliance activity is based on risk and the risk that each licensed activity poses to the Gambling Commission’s licensing objectives.
The three licensing objectives are:
- keeping crime out of gambling
- ensuring gambling is conducted fairly and openly
- protecting children and vulnerable people from being harmed or exploited by gambling.
Compliance
Guidance and information for running a compliant gambling business. Including information on how we carry out assessments, your responsibilities under the LCCP and other gambling-related legislation.
Sector specific compliance
Guidance and information for the lottery sector.
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Guidance
Lotteries: sector specific compliance
Sector specific compliance for lotteries (or raffles) and the regulations around them.
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Guidance
Lottery submissions guidance
Guidance for information collected in the Lottery Submissions service.
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Guidance
Using SMS short codes for lottery promotion
Guidance around using SMS short codes to promote lotteries.
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Guidance
Societies running lotteries for other good causes
Guidance for societies who want to run a lottery for other good causes, and the rules and regulations around such lotteries.
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Guidance
Lottery proceeds - Advice note April 2013 (Updated July 2020)
Advice for society lotteries, local authority lotteries and external lottery managers about the requirements relating to the distribution of lottery proceeds.
What you need to tell us
You are required to tell us about certain things that happen in your business, these are dependent on the licences and activities you hold.
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Guidance
What you need to tell us when you hold an operating licence
This guidance summarises all of the types of data and information that you are required to tell us when you hold an operating licence.
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Guidance
Key events for operators
These guides will inform you of the key events you must tell us about when you hold an operating licence.
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Guidance
Guidance to operators for age verification test purchasing (non-remote)
This guidance explains what data we need from you about age verification test purchasing when you hold a non-remote operating licence.
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Guidance
Regulatory returns guidance
Guidance for information collected in the Regulatory Returns service by licensing sector.
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Guidance
Assurance statements
This guidance explains our data and information requirements if you are required to send us an assurance statement.
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Guidance
Gaming machine and remote games information requirements
This guidance explains our data and information requirements for games test, games annual audit and security audit reports.
Public Register
We provide details of all businesses and individuals we licence on our Public Register service.
When you are issued a licence, we will display the details of your licence on the register.
This includes:
- your head office address
- details of the activities you are licensed for and from when
- domain and trading names you've told us about, and
- details of any regulatory action that has been carried out.
Display of licensed status
If you hold a remote licence, the gambling websites and apps you provide must show details about your licence and link to your public register licence information.
This is a condition of your licence under LCCP Condition 8 - Display of licensed status.
Making changes to your licence
You can make most changes to your licence online, using eServices.
You can:
- add or remove licence activities
- change the activity fee category up or down
- add or remove management or key people in the business
- add or remove trading names
- add or remove domain names for websites where you provide gambling.
Some of these changes require you to pay a fee.
Surrendering your licence
If you no longer need your licence, you can surrender it.