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.

Register 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.

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.

Annual fee to renew a small society lottery registration

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. Once paid, please email a copy of your receipt to licensing.team@threerivers.gov.uk

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 our online small society lottery return form. You must submit your completed form no later than three months from the date of the final draw.

Change of responsible officer

The licensing department must be notified if the member of the society who is designated as having responsibility at the society for the promotion of the lottery changes.

You can notify us of any changes using our online form.