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Planning a charity event can be super exciting. You get to think of lots of fun fundraising activities and charity prize ideas, and there’s a great sense of community spirit.
However, if you decide to run a raffle, there are certain charity raffle rules, regulations and legal requirements in the UK that you must comply with. So in this section of our guide to running a successful raffle, we offer all the information, advice and resources you need to keep your event compliant.
(And don’t worry. We’ve made it really simple so you can’t go wrong!)
When you’re ready to buy raffle tickets, you need to make sure your raffle complies with the lottery’s legal requirements. There’s also certain information that must be printed on your ticket.
Understanding the legal requirements for running a raffle can seem overwhelming and confusing. But don’t let this put off, as running a raffle can help you to raise the vital funds you need for your organisation or good cause.
That’s why we have dissected the guidelines from the UK Gambling Commission and picked out the information you need to run a legal raffle.
A lottery is a kind of gambling with three essential ingredients:
A typical lottery in which players buy a ticket with a number on it is called a raffle. The raffle tickets are then randomly drawn and anyone holding the same number wins a prize.
It’s illegal to run a lottery for private or commercial gain. That means you either have to be a registered charity or need to be set up as a society if you want to be registered or licensed for a small society lottery.
For legal reasons, The Gambling Act 2005 has created 8 categories of lottery, each with their own rules and regulations. We’ve chosen the 3 main categories of lotteries that are relevant to your fundraising raffle.
To see more information on all 8 categories, see the types of lotteries and their regulations as explained by the Gambling Commission.
A small society lottery requires a licence from your local council. The society in question must be set up for non-commercial purposes, such as a sports club, culture group or charitable organisation.
Yes, you do. You need a small society lottery licence or permit from your local authority for any raffle event where you’re selling the tickets in advance. This usually costs around £40.
Information printed on a small society lottery raffle ticket must include the:
A private society lottery must raise money for one of two reasons:
For example, a football club raffle held and sold at an event at the football club to raise money for a charity or the club itself would be considered a private society raffle.
No, you don’t. This type of lottery doesn’t require a licence or permit.
While a ticket must be provided for a private society raffle, there are no specific legal requirements.
However, all tickets must be sold at the same price.
An incidental lottery doesn’t require a licence from your council. These can be held at commercial or non-commercial events such as school fetes or village fairs. They must be raising money for charity or other good causes.
No, you don’t. Just like a private society lottery, you don’t need a licence or permit for an incidental lottery.
There are no specific legal requirements for an incidental lottery raffle ticket. However, a ticket must be provided.
Each type of lottery has different rules. So we have included a quick reference table below to help you figure out the legal requirements for your charity raffle.
For more legal information on running a raffle, visit the Gambling Commission website or contact your local council.
When you buy custom raffle tickets online, you need to enter the details of your raffle into our raffle ticket template.
This is very easy to do. Just follow our short raffle ticket guide and follow the instructions to make sure you put the right information in the right places.
Now that you’ve met the UK legal rules and requirements for running a charity fundraising raffle, you can start our favourite step: designing your raffle ticket!
Read the next part of our hand guide for help in choosing a raffle ticket template, correctly filling in your information and showing off your incredible prizes. Alternatively, in our prior piece in this series, we covered choosing raffle prizes, if you would prefer to re-read this.
