Any non-commercial society that wishes to promote small lotteries, raffles, prize draws or similar, in order to raise funds for a purpose of the society, must be registered with us.
To apply, you must have the authority to make the application on behalf of the society.
The initial application fee is £40, and the annual fee due on the anniversary of the date of registration is £20. If you fail to pay your annual fee, we may cancel your registration, a notice will be sent to you formally in this instance.
What you need to know about registering a non-commercial society lottery
To register, a Society must be non-commercial. A society is defined under s.19 of the Gambling Act 2005 as non-commercial if it is established and conducted:
- for charitable purposes (defined under s.2 of the Charities Act 2006)
- 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
Please note applications will be refused, and you should therefore not make an application, if in the last five years:
- an operating licence held by the society has been revoked under section 119(1) of the Gambling Act 2005, or
- an application for an operating licence made by the society has been refused
Your application may be refused if the local authority think that:
- the society is not a non-commercial society
- a person who will or may be connected with the promotion of the lottery has been convicted of a relevant offence
- information provided in or with the application is false or misleading
Filing of returns
After promoting a lottery, the registered small society must return details of that lottery to the local authority within three months of the date of the draw (or last draw).
If you employ an external lottery manager (ELM), they must be licensed by the Gambling Commission.
