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Small Society Lotteries

Small Societies wishing to promote lotteries e.g. raffles, tombolas and prize draws must register with Craven District Council as a small society lottery.

The Council registers non commercial local societies who wish to raise funds through raffles and tombolas for charitable purposes.

A society is non-commercial if it is established and conducted:

  • for charitable purposes
  • for the purpose of enabling participation in, or of supporting, sport, athletics or a cultural activity
  • for any other purpose other than that of private gain.

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.

There are strict rules concerning raffles and prize draws which include:

  • the information printed on the ticket
  • how much money can be allocated to prizes and expenses
  • who can buy and sell tickets
  • how the tickets are sold
  • filing returns with the Council 

More information is available in the lottery guidance notes which are available to download.

pdf icon Guidance on small society lotteries [35kb]

Please note - You do not need to register:

  • A raffle that is held during an event providing that the tickets are sold only to those persons present at the time and that the draw is held before the end of the event and the prizes are not money prizes.
  • Sweepstakes (such as Grand National ones) do not need licensing if they are the simple workplace variety where the 'stakes' are sold only to colleagues

How to register a small society lottery

Registration Fee's Are £40 Pounds (Full List of Fee's)