Lotteries
If you are a non-commercial society, you can apply for a licence to hold a lottery, such as a raffle or prize draw, to raise funds for your organisation. A ‘society’ is an organisation or group that promotes charitable causes, sport, cultural activities or other non-commercial activities.
A small society lottery licence allows you to raise funds of up to £20,000. If the total value of your ticket sales will exceed £20,000, you will need to apply for a large society lottery licence from the Gambling Commission.
For more information, see the Gambling Commission’s guide to running a small society lottery.
Resister to hold a small lottery
Please note that your main office must be registered in Three Rivers District to apply for a small society lottery licence.
Apply for a small society lottery registration (PDF, 608 KB)Please return your completed form to licensing.team@threerivers.gov.uk. There is a fee of £40 for new registrations. Please call customer services on 01923 776611 to pay for your registration when you submit your application.
You will need to pay an annual fee of £20.00 if you wish to stay registered. Please call 01923 776611 to pay for your annual fee before the anniversary of your registration.
Organising your lottery
All lottery tickets must state:
- the name of the organisation promoting the lottery
- the price of the ticket (which must be the same for all tickets)
- the name and address of the member of the charity or non-commercial organisation responsible for promoting the small lotteries or, if there is one, the external lottery Manager
- the date of the draw
Prizes can be up to the value of £25,000.
After your lottery
At least 20% of the funds you raise must go towards promoting the charitable or community aims of your organisation.
After your lottery, raffle or draw, has taken place, complete and send a small society lottery return form to licensing.team@threerivers.gov.uk. You must submit your completed form no later than three months from the date of the final draw.
Small society lottery return form (PDF, 548 KB)