East Suffolk Council
Small society lotteries
Schedule 11 of The Gambling Act 2005 controls the conduct of small lotteries (for example, raffles and 100 club type draws) by societies raising money for charitable, sporting, cultural and other similar purposes, other than for private gain.
The society on whose behalf the lottery is promoted should be registered with the local council where their head office is located, before any lotteries are conducted.
Exemptions under the Gambling Act 2005
Certain exemptions may apply to some types of lottery, such as an incidental non-commercial lottery, a private lottery or customer lottery. For example, a raffle held at a school fete where all the proceeds of the event will go entirely to purposes that are other than private gain may be an exempt lottery.
Registration form, returns form and guidance
The Licensing Team have produced the following documents for information and application purposes:
- Guidance notes for lotteries, draws and raffles
- Online non-commercial society registration or renewal
- Non-commercial society registration - Adobe PDF format | Microsoft Word format
- Small society lottery returns form
More detailed information on lottery law, including exemptions, is available on the Gambling Commission website.
Registration fees
The prescribed fee for a new registration is £40 and an annual fee of £20 is required to continue the registration. The annual fee is normally due on 1 January each year or else on the anniversary of the grant of the registration. Renewal forms are not required, but return forms must be submitted within 3 months of each lottery draw.
Non-payment of annual fees will result in automatic cancellation of the registration.