Small society lottery licence
Society lotteries are set up for the benefit of a non-commercial society. A society is non-commercial if it works for:
- charitable purposes
- enabling participation in sport or a cultural activity (for example theatre)
- any non-commercial purpose other than that of private gain.
A small society lottery:
- does not have proceeds over £20,000 for a single draw
- does not have total proceeds over £250,000 in a calendar year.
Lotteries that exceed the small society lottery limit
If your society lottery has proceeds over the small society limits, you need to apply for a licence from the Gambling Commission.
Societies may employ an external lottery manager (ELM) to run all or part of their lottery. ELMs must get a licence from the Gambling Commission.
If you are organising a small society lottery it is your responsibility to make sure you comply with the law. If in doubt, you should seek legal advice.
Applying for a Small society lottery
You can apply for a Small society lottery by downloading our application form.
Apply for a Small society lottery
Once you have completed the application for, you need to send it to send it to our Licensing team along with the application fee of £40.00.
The licence will last for one year from the date we issue it.
If you want to keep your Small society lottery after a year, you need to pay the renewal fee of £20.00.
Once we have granted your licence, you must tell us about any draws that take place and the total amounts you raise.
