How to organise a raffle or lottery

If you set up a Small Society to support Alzheimer's Society, (eg. Friends of Alzheimer's Society), you could run a Society lottery to raise funds in aid of Alzheimer's Society.

Even if your Small Society is set up solely for the purposes of your raffle, you must be registered with your local authority. You are required to adhere to certain rules and would need to file certain information with that local authority.

• Society lotteries must be registered with your local authority.
• Tickets can be sold in advance and the lottery can be promoted to the general public.
• The gross proceeds of any one lottery must not be capable of exceeding £20,000. Further, the aggregate of proceeds of all lotteries promoted by the Small Society in the same period must not have exceeded £250,000.
• Society Lotteries must be promoted for the purposes of the Small Society (i.e. fundraising for Alzheimer's Society) and at least 20% of lottery proceeds must be applied to the Small Society's purposes.
• No individual prize (whether in cash or goods or a mixture of both) may be worth more than £25,000.
• Under 16's are not allowed to buy or sell tickets for Small Society lotteries.
• Tickets for Small Society lotteries must be specially printed or produced and must comply with requirements set by your local authority. Please check these requirements with the local authority with which your Small Society is registered for details.
  

For further information visit www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk or call 0121 230 6666.

Next Steps

Once you have registered your Small Society with your local authority you should make sure that your plans adhere to the necessary laws and guidelines.

Start to think about obtaining prizes for your raffle.

Your raffle doesn't fit this description? Take a look at our information on small lotteries.