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Lottery responsibilities

For lotteries licensed in England, Scotland or Wales, you must contact us if you suspect that someone is breaking gambling law set out in the Gambling Commission’s licence conditions and codes of practice.

There are responsibilities that you need to be aware of and follow if you are planning on running a lottery.

You must:

  • follow the legal requirements for society lotteries
  • make sure you are not running an illegal lottery
  • make sure you are meeting the criteria set out to run an exempt lottery.

An exempt lottery is either a:

If the type of lottery you're running requires a licence, you must follow the Gambling Commission's codes of practice, licence conditions and codes of practice (LCCP) and any conditions that have been set out in legislation.

Promoter responsibilities

Whoever is chosen to be the promoter of a lottery must be authorised in writing by the governing body of the society.

The promoter is responsible by law to make sure that the lottery is being run legally and must make sure that those selling and distributing tickets are made aware of the relevant regulations. This is the case even if you use a subcontractor to sell tickets.

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Types of lottery you can run without a licence

Last updated: 3 June 2024

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