Small Lottery Registration

Lotteries are a form of gambling. Raffles, tombolas and sweepstakes are all classed as lotteries.

The Gambling Act 2005 created different types of lotteries.

The type of lottery that requires a registration with the Local Authority is a Small Society Lottery. The Society would be required to register with the Licensing Authority in which the principal office of the society is located.

Who can register

You must:

1. be a non-commercial; and
2. be established for charitable purposes or for the purpose of enabling participation in sport or cultural activities; and
3. not exceed £20,000 in ticket sales for a single lottery or not exceed £250,000 for tickets sales in a calendar year; and
4. your principal office must be in Gateshead

Section 19 of the 2005 Act defines a society as non-commercial if it is:

• for charitable purposes (as defined by Section 2 of the Charities Act 2006)
• for the purpose of enabling participation in, or of supporting, sport, athletics or a cultural activity; and
• for any other non-commercial purpose other than that of private gain

The society must have been established for one of the permitted purposes, and the proceeds of any lottery must be devoted to those purposes. It would not be allowed to establish a society whose sole purpose is to facilitate lotteries; it must have some other purpose.

The total value of tickets to be put on sale per single lottery must be £20,000 or less, or the aggregate value of tickets to be put on sale for all their lotteries in a calendar year must not exceed £250,000. If the society plans to exceed either of these values they cannot be registered by the Local Authority and must be licensed by the Gambling Commission as a large lottery.

How to register as a Small Society Lottery

To apply, you must have the authority to make the application on behalf of the society.  

You will need to:

• complete the Small Society Lottery Registration Application form (Word doc, 68 KB)(opens new window).
• pay the £40 initial application fee

Please note that the Licensing Authority may ask new applicants for a copy of their terms and conditions or their constitution to establish that they are a non-commercial society. It may also request applicants to provide a declaration, stating that they represent a bona-fide non-commercial society.

Applications need to be sent to the Licensing Section (see contact information below).  Once we receive you application we will email you with information on ways to pay the fee.

What happens next

Officers will check your completed application form to make sure it complies with the requirements for registration.

If your application is granted we will issue with a registration certificate. We will also notify the Gambling Commission of the new registration.

If we are considering refusing your application Officers will be in touch to allow you to make representations.

Grounds for refusal include:-

• refusal or revocation of an operator licence in the past 5 years
• not being a non-commercial society
• a person connected with the promotion being convicted of a relevant offence
• information being given in connection with the application is found to be false or misleading

The applicant or the society has a right to appeal the Licensing Authority's decision to a Magistrate's Court within 21 days of the notice of decision.

Once registered

You must comply with the following requirements regarding tickets and returns.

Tickets

Your tickets must state:

• the name of the promoting society
• the price of the ticket, which must be the same for all tickets
• the name and address of the member of the society who is designated as having responsibility for promoting small lotteries
• the date of the draw

Lottery tickets may only be sold by persons over the age of 16 and to persons over the age of 16.

Rollover of prize funds are permitted as long as the total for any single prize does not exceed £25,000 or 10% of the proceeds of the lottery.

If you employ an external lottery manager (ELM), they must be licensed by the Gambling Commission.

Returns

After promoting a lottery, the registered small society must return details of that lottery to the Licensing Section within three months of the date of the draw (or last draw). returns template (PDF, 736 KB)

Returns should be emailed to [email protected] or posted to Licensing Section, Gateshead Council, Civic Centre, Regent Street, Gateshead, NE8 1HH.

Annual fee

The annual fee is £20 and is due every year on the anniversary of it being registered.

Failure to pay the annual fee may result in your registration being cancelled.

A reminder will be sent out.

Exemptions

There are a number of exemptions from applying for a small society lottery which are:

• incidental lotteries or lotteries held at events
• private lotteries; and
• a customer lottery

Further information can be found on the Gambling Commission website.

Scams and illegal lotteries

If you have concerns that a lottery is a scam or is illegal and should be running under a registration, please report this to us.