UK Raffle Rules: Do You Need a Licence?

Whether your raffle needs a licence in the UK comes down to one question: when and where will you sell tickets?

If tickets are sold only at your event, on the day, you almost certainly do not need a licence. If you sell tickets in advance, or online, you need to register with your local authority before you start. Larger raffles need a Gambling Commission licence. Once the legal side is sorted, running a raffle online is the straightforward part.

This guide covers the rules under the Gambling Act 2005, which applies in England, Wales and Scotland. Northern Ireland has its own, stricter rules, covered at the end.

The 60 second answer

Selling tickets only at the event, on the day?This is an incidental lottery. No licence, no registration. You can sell to anyone at the event and there is no cap on ticket sales. Two limits apply: you cannot take more than £100 from the proceeds for expenses, and you cannot spend more than £500 of the proceeds on prizes. Donated prizes are unlimited, which is why most event raffles run entirely on donated prizes. Prizes cannot roll over to another raffle.

Selling tickets before the event, or online?This is a small society lottery. You must register with your local authority before selling a single ticket. Registration typically costs around £40 for the first year and £20 a year after that. Your organisation must be a non-commercial society, meaning it exists for charitable, sporting, cultural or other purposes that are not private gain.

Expecting more than £20,000 in ticket sales from one draw, or £250,000 across a year?You have outgrown the small society category. You need a lottery operating licence from the Gambling Commission. If you think you might cross the £20,000 per draw line, talk to your local authority before the draw, not after.

What counts as a raffle in law

The word raffle does not appear in the legislation. In law, a raffle is a lottery, and a lottery has three ingredients: payment to enter, prizes, and winners decided by chance. If all three are present, lottery rules apply no matter what you call it. Tombolas, sweepstakes and prize draws with paid entry are all lotteries.

Remove one ingredient and it stops being a lottery. A free prize draw (no payment required) or a prize competition (winners decided by genuine skill, not chance) sits outside gambling law entirely. This distinction matters, and it is where many fundraisers accidentally break the law, so we cover it in the traps section below.

The categories at a glance

Small society lotteries in detail

This is the category most fundraising raffles fall into once tickets are sold in advance, and it is the one with real paperwork. The requirements:

Register first. Apply to the local authority where your society's main office is based. You must be registered before you promote or sell tickets.

At least 20% of proceeds must go to your cause. The rest can cover prizes and expenses, but the 20% floor is a legal requirement, not a guideline.

Tickets must show specific information: the name of your society, the ticket price (which must be the same for every ticket, no discounting some and not others), the name and address of the promoter, the date of the draw or how to find it out, and your charity registration number if you have one.

Age limit. Nobody under 16 can buy a ticket in a society lottery.

Returns. After each draw you must send your local authority a return showing proceeds, prizes, expenses and the amount applied to your cause.

Registration is the legal setup. For everything after that, from pricing tickets to promoting the draw, see our step by step guide to raffles for small fundraisers.

For the regulator's own guidance, see the Gambling Commission's fundraising and lotteries pages. [EXTERNAL: https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/public-and-players/guide/fundraising-prize-draws-raffles-and-lotteries]

Selling raffle tickets online

This deserves its own section because it is where the rules bite hardest and where guidance elsewhere is vaguest.

You must have a local authority registration or a Gambling Commission licence to sell lottery tickets online. There is no licence-free way to run an online raffle with paid entry. The incidental, private society, work and customer categories all require face-to-face sales in a specific physical setting and cannot be run remotely.

In practice this means: if you want to sell digital raffle tickets through any platform, your organisation needs to be registered as a small society lottery with your local authority first, or hold an operating licence if you are above the small society limits. Registration is inexpensive and usually processed within a few weeks, so build it into your campaign timeline.

One helpful nuance: a raffle at your gala dinner where guests buy tickets on their phones during the event, with sales opening and closing at the event itself, is still an in-person event raffle in substance. If you plan to open sales before the event, register. If in doubt, register anyway; it costs around £40 and removes the question.

Common traps

The prize draw loophole is real but easy to get wrong. Commercial operators run paid "raffles" legally by adding a free postal entry route or a genuine skill question, which takes the promotion outside lottery law. The free route must be genuinely free, given equal prominence to the paid route, and give equal odds of winning. Hiding it in small print or behind a purchase breaks the structure and turns the whole thing into an illegal lottery. For charities, a properly run society lottery is almost always simpler and safer. If the free entry structure suits your fundraiser, see our guide to charity sweepstakes, which covers how to run one correctly.

Car and house raffles rarely work as society lotteries. The £20,000 per draw sales cap is the problem. If the prize is worth £15,000 and you can only sell £20,000 in tickets, the maths fails before you start. Most UK house raffle schemes are structured as skill-based prize competitions for exactly this reason, and several have gone badly wrong. Get legal advice before attempting one.

Raffle tickets do not qualify for Gift Aid. A raffle ticket buys a chance to win, so it is not a gift, and HMRC will not allow Gift Aid on it even if the buyer thinks of it as a donation. Pure donations made alongside ticket purchases can still qualify. Keep the two separate in your records and your receipts.

Running an unlicensed lottery is a criminal offence. Promoting or facilitating a lottery without the right registration or licence is an offence under section 258 of the Gambling Act 2005, and proceeds can be forfeited. The registration costs £40. The shortcut is not worth it.

Northern Ireland is different. The Gambling Act 2005 does not apply there. Raffles in Northern Ireland fall under the Betting, Gaming, Lotteries and Amusements (Northern Ireland) Order 1985, which is stricter. If you are fundraising in Northern Ireland, check the rules separately before applying anything in this guide. Raffle law varies sharply between countries; if you fundraise outside the UK, see our summary of raffle rules by country, including Australian raffle rules state by state.

FAQ

Do I need a licence for a raffle at a school fair or fete?No, as long as tickets are sold only at the event. That is an incidental lottery. Keep expenses under £100, spend no more than £500 of proceeds on prizes, and use donated prizes freely.

How much does it cost to register a raffle in the UK?Small society lottery registration with your local authority typically costs around £40 initially, then around £20 per year. Fees vary slightly by council.

Can I sell raffle tickets online in the UK?Only if your organisation is registered as a small society lottery with your local authority, or holds a Gambling Commission operating licence. There is no licence-free online raffle with paid entry.

How old do you have to be to buy a raffle ticket?16 for society lotteries. Many online platforms require buyers to be 18 due to payment terms; parents buying on behalf of children is standard practice at school events.

What happens if we raise more than £20,000 in one draw?You have exceeded the small society lottery limit and would need a Gambling Commission operating licence. If you think you might cross the line, contact your local authority before the draw.

Does a tombola need a licence?A tombola is a lottery in law. At an event with on-the-day sales only, it is an incidental lottery and needs no licence. Sold in advance or online, small society rules apply.

Can a business run a raffle for profit?No. Lotteries cannot be run for commercial or private gain. Businesses wanting to run paid prize promotions use free draws or skill-based prize competitions, which sit outside lottery law when structured correctly.

‍