How to apply for a lottery registration

Small society lotteries are often referred to as raffles or draws and can be a good way to raise funds for charitable purposes.

If money is paid for the chance to win a prize where no skill, judgement or knowledge affects the outcome, this is known as a lottery.

Societies which run small society lotteries must register with us if the principal office of the society is in the Borough of Hinckley and Bosworth throughout the period in which a lottery is promoted.

Definition of 'society'

The registration will be for the society, or any separate branch, on whose behalf a lottery is to be promoted. The society must be a non-commercial organisation. Section 19 of the 2005 Act defines a society as non-commercial if it is:

• For charitable purposes (as defined by section 2 of the Charities Act 2006)
• For the purpose of enabling participation in, or of supporting, sport, athletics or cultural activity
• For any other non-commercial purpose other than that of private gain

The society must have been established for one of the permitted purposes (as above) and the proceeds of any lottery must be devoted to those purposes. It is not legal to create a society whose only purpose is to run lotteries - it must have some other purpose.

Definition of 'lottery'

Under the Gambling Act 2005 there are two categories of lottery, simple and complex:

A simple lottery is:

• Persons are required to pay in order to participate in the lottery
• In the course of the lottery one or more prizes are allocated to one or more members of a group, and
• The prizes are allocated by a process which relies wholly on chance

A complex lottery is:

• Persons are required to pay in order to participate in the lottery
• In the course of the lottery one or more prizes are allocated to one or more members of a group 
• The prizes are allocated by a series of processes, for example - a question, then entry into a prize draw and
• The first of those processes relies wholly on chance

Last updated: 01/11/2024 16:29