Small society lottery registration

You need to register if you are a non-commercial society wanting to sell lottery or raffle tickets in advance of the date on which a draw will take place.

You must register with the local authority in the area where your principal office of the society is located.

• Small society lottery regulations
• Exemptions
• Register a small society lottery
• Fees
• After the draw
• Public register
• Contact details

Small society lottery regulations

A lottery is a game of chance which people pay to take part in to win prizes which are allocated by chance, including includes raffles and sweepstakes. For more information, view the Gambling Commission guide to running a lottery

A society is non-commercial if it is for:

• sports
• cultural activities
• charitable causes
• any other non-commercial purpose other than for private gain. 

A society must not be established for the sole purpose of facilitating lotteries. Visit the Gambling Commission website for information about society lotteries.

For details on the rules and regulations for lotteries, download the document below.

Lotteries Definitions - Gambling Act 2005 [94.18KB]

A small society lottery:

• does not have proceeds that exceed £20,000 for a single draw
• does not have aggregate proceeds from lotteries in excess of £250,000 in any one year
• does not require a Gambling Commission licence
• must be registered with the local authority in the area where the principal office of the society is located. 

You can download the Gambling Commission's advice on society lotteries below.

Promoting Society and Local Authority Lotteries [255.92KB]

Exemptions

In certain circumstances, you will not be required to register. These include:

• incidental lotteries (at an event)
• private lotteries (at private societies, workplaces or households)
• customer lotteries (for customers at business premises).

You can download the Gambling Commission's advice on small lotteries below.

Organising Small Lotteries [238.19KB]

Register a small society lottery

To register a small society lottery, download the application form below.

Small Lotteries Application Form [214.44KB]

You will need to provide us with:

• a completed application form
• a copy of the society's terms and conditions or constitution
• the fee.

The society's terms and conditions or constitution are to establish that it is a non-commercial society.

Fees

The initial registration fee is £40.

The annual fee is £20.

A small society lottery registration lasts indefinitely unless:

• you notify us that the registration is no longer needed
• it is cancelled due to non-payment of the annual fee.

We will send a reminder letter to you before your annual fee due date, detailing how to make payment.

You can pay your annual fee up to two months in advance. Failure to pay the annual fee on time will result in cancellation of the registration.

If you would like to pay your Lottery Annual Fee online, use the form below. You will need to have your annual fee letter to hand.

Pay lottery annual fee

After the draw

Within three months of the draw taking place, you need to send a Lottery Return Form to us.

This form needs to be signed by two appointed members of the society.

This form will be supplied with your registration. It can also be downloaded below.

Lottery Blank Return Form [67.5KB]

Public register

We maintain a public register of all small society lottery registrations, which you can view using the link below.

Small society lotteries register

Contact details

You can contact us to ask a question about small society lotteries.

Email: licensing@nfdc.gov.uk

Phone: 023 8028 5505

Licensing Services
New Forest District Council
Appletree Court
Beaulieu Road
Lyndhurst
SO43 7PA