Apply to register a small society lottery

Lotteries can be a good way to raise funds for charitable purposes. Lotteries are also often called raffles or draws.

A lottery is a type of gambling that has 3 characteristics:

• players need to take take part
• winners get one or more prizes
• those prizes are awarded by chance.

You cannot run a lottery for private gain. There are also some types of lotteries that cannot be used for fundraising.

Check if your lottery needs a licence

Most lotteries don’t need a licence. They include:

• Incidental non-commercial lotteries: these are lotteries held at events.
• Customer lotteries: these are lotteries held at a business premises.
• Work lotteries: these are lotteries with people you work with.
• Residents lotteries: these are lotteries with people you live with.
• Private society lotteries: these are lotteries with people you're in a club with.

You only need a licence from us if you want to organise a small society lottery.

If you're not sure if you need a licence for a lottery you're running you can check online. You need to register or log in to our customer portal.

Small society lotteries

You can only organise society lotteries for established, non-commercial societies. Non-commercial societies are societies created:

• for charitable purposes
• to support or encourage participation in
  • a sport
  • athletics
  • a cultural activity
• any other non-commercial purpose which is not carried out for someone's private gain

Fees

A new permit costs £40. It lasts 12 months from the date of issue.

Renewals cost £20.

Lottery conditions

To run a small society lottery, you must follow these limits:

• You cannot raise more than £20,000 from ticket sales per lottery.
• You cannot raise more than £250,000 from ticket sales per calendar year.
• A single prize cannot be worth more than £25,000.
• At least 20% of the proceeds must be used for purposes of the society.

Tickets

Tickets must state:

• the name of the society
• the price, which must be the same for all tickets
• the date of the draw
• the registration number issued by Torbay Council
• The person responsible for managing the lottery, either:
  • the member of the society who is responsible for promoting small lotteries or
  • the external lottery manager

How to apply for a new registration

Please read our full small society lottery guidance before applying. It explains all the rules and limits for small society lotteries.

You can apply for a new registration online. You will need to tell us:

• the name and address of the society organising the lottery
• what the purpose of the society is

You will need to register or log in to our customer portal to apply online.

Renewals

You can renew your small society lottery permit online. You will need to register or log in to our customer portal to apply online.

Returns

You must submit details of lottery returns within 3 months of the last draw.

How to submit a return

You can submit your lottery returns online. You will need to tell us:

• when the tickets were sold
• when the draws took place
• details of any donated prizes
• how much the lottery raised from selling tickets
• how much was used to pay for prizes
• the value of prizes, including donated prizes and any rollover
• how much was used to pay for expenses
• any expenses that were not paid using proceeds and and how they were paid for.
• the final amount used for purposes for which the society is conducted

You will need to register or log in to our customer portal to submit your returns online.