Charity Raffle Rules: When You Need a Licence

A raffle feels like the most innocent form of fundraising there is. Sell some tickets, draw a winner, hand over a hamper. But the law does not see it that way. In legal terms a raffle is a lottery, and lotteries are regulated gambling. That does not mean raffles are difficult or risky; thousands run lawfully every week. It means you need to know which type of lottery you are running, because that determines whether you can just get on with it, need to register with the council, or need a licence from the Gambling Commission. This guide makes those distinctions clear.

Why a raffle is legally a lottery

The reason so many charities get caught out is that the everyday words we use, raffle, tombola, sweepstake, prize draw, all describe the same thing in law: a lottery. A lottery, broadly, has three features.

• People pay to enter.
• One or more prizes are given out.
• The prizes are allocated by chance.

If all three are present, you are running a lottery, and lottery rules apply regardless of how small or friendly the event feels. Understanding this is the foundation for everything else, because the type of lottery you are running decides what permissions you need.

The law does not care whether you call it a raffle or a lottery. If people pay, prizes are given, and chance decides, the same rules apply.

The main types and what each needs

There are several categories of lottery a charity might run, and the permissions step up as the lottery gets larger or more separate from an event.

Incidental lotteries

This is the classic raffle held during a larger event, a fete, a dinner, a fundraising evening, where tickets are sold and the draw takes place at the same event on the same day. Incidental lotteries need no registration or licence, provided they meet the conditions, which include limits on deducting costs from proceeds and rules about when the draw happens. For most one-off event raffles, this is the category you are in.

Small society lotteries

If you run a lottery separately from an event, for example selling tickets over days or weeks with a later draw, and your total ticket sales stay within the small society lottery limits, you must register as a small society lottery with your local authority. Registration is inexpensive and straightforward, but it is a legal requirement, and there are rules about proceeds, prizes, and returns you must submit afterwards.

Large society lotteries

Once your lottery exceeds the small society thresholds, whether in ticket sales for a single draw or across a year, you move into large society lottery territory and need an operating licence from the Gambling Commission. This is a bigger commitment with ongoing obligations, and is generally for charities running substantial, regular lottery programmes.

Free draws

If you offer a genuinely free route to enter, so that paying is not the only way to have a chance of winning, the activity is a free draw and sits outside lottery licensing altogether. The free entry option has to be real and reasonably accessible. Many charities use this model deliberately to run prize draws without the lottery obligations.

A simple way to work out which you are

Rather than memorising the categories, ask a short series of questions when you plan any prize-based fundraiser.

1. Is there a genuinely free way to enter? If yes, it is likely a free draw with no lottery licensing needed.
2. If people must pay, is the draw part of a single event on the same day? If yes, it is likely an incidental lottery with no registration needed, subject to the conditions.
3. If tickets are sold separately from an event over a period, is the scale within the small society limits? If yes, you must register with the local authority.
4. If the scale exceeds those limits, you need a Gambling Commission licence.

Walking through those questions before you print tickets will keep almost any charity raffle on the right side of the law.

Good practice beyond the licence

Getting the permission right is necessary but not the whole picture. A few further points keep your raffle both legal and trustworthy.

• Follow the ticket rules: registered lotteries have requirements about what information tickets must show and how they are sold.
• Protect young people: there are age restrictions on who can take part in and buy lottery tickets.
• Be transparent: make clear how proceeds support your cause, in line with the Code of Fundraising Practice.
• Keep records and submit returns: registered lotteries require you to report proceeds and prizes to the local authority afterwards.

Raise money with confidence

None of this should put you off. Raffles and lotteries are a well established, effective way for charities to raise money, and the rules exist to keep them fair and honest, not to stop them. The mistake to avoid is assuming a raffle is too small to be regulated. Work out which type you are running, get the registration or licence if you need one, follow the conditions, and you can run your raffle knowing it is lawful, fair, and doing exactly what you intended: raising money for your cause without any nasty surprises.

Related reading: The Fundraising Regulator Explained: What It Does and What It Expects From You, Society Lottery Licence for Charity Raffles: The Plain Guide and Fundraising Compliance in 2026: A Guide to Regulation, Data Protection and Lawful Campaigns.