Types of lottery
Small society lotteries are exempt from the requirement to be
licensed by the Gambling Commission along with other classes of
exempt
lotteries , which are incidental non-commercial lotteries, a
private society lottery, a work lottery or a resident’s
lottery.
View guidance for
exempt lotteries.
These guidelines cover small society
lotteries registered by Waveney District Council.
Further information regarding lotteries can be found on the
Gambling Commission website
www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk (Opens new
window) where reference can be made to their publication
‘Lotteries and the Law’.
Definition of a Lottery
Under the Gambling Act 2005 there are two categories of lotteries,
simple and complex:
An arrangement is a simple lottery if-
(a) persons are required to pay in order to participate in the
arrangement,
(b) in the course of the arrangement one or more prizes are
allocated to one or more members of a class, and
(c) the prizes are allocated by a process which relies wholly on
chance.
An arrangement is a complex lottery if-
(a) persons are required to pay in order to participate in the
arrangement,
(b) in the course of the arrangement one or more prizes are
allocated to one or more members of a class,
(c) the prizes are allocated by a series of processes, and
(d) the first of those processes relies wholly on chance.
Regulations for lotteries
A small society lottery must be promoted wholly on behalf of a
non-commercial society. S19 of the Gambling Act 2005 (GA05) defines
a society as such if it is established and conducted for charitable
purposes. This is for the purpose of enabling participation in, or
supporting of, sport, athletics or a cultural activity and for any
other non-commercial purpose other than that of private gain.
Purpose
A small society lottery may be promoted for any of the purposes for
which the promoting society is conducted.
Proceeds
The proceeds of one lottery may not exceed £20.000. The aggregate
of proceeds from lotteries promoted wholly or partly during that
year may not exceed £250,000.
Maximum Prize
It must not be possible for the purchaser of a ticket in a small
society lottery to win (whether in money, money’s worth or partly
one and partly the other) more than £25,000
Distribution of proceeds
The arrangement for a small society lottery must ensure that at
least 20% of the proceeds of the lottery are applied to a purpose
for which the promoting society is conducted.
Tickets
There is no price limit on tickets
but they must all cost the same, and the possible proceeds must not
exceed £20,000.
Tickets:
(a) must identify the society
(b) state the price of the ticket
(c) state the name and an address of a member of the society who is
designated, by persons acting on behalf of the society, as having
responsibility within the society for the promotion of the lottery,
or, if there is one, the external lottery manager
(d) either states the date of the draw or enables the date of the
draw to be determined.
Selling of tickets
Tickets may not be sold by any person under the age of 16 years or
to any person under the age of 16 years.
Tickets may be sold from a kiosk, in a shop and door to door. They
may not be sold in a street, which is defined as including any
bridge, road, lane, footway, subway, square, court or passage
(including passages through enclosed premises such as shopping
malls).
Rollover
A lottery may include a rollover only if each lottery, which is
affected by the rollover is also a small society lottery promoted
by or on behalf of the same society.
Registration
The promoting society of a small society lottery must, throughout
the period during which the lottery is promoted, be registered with
a local authority. You can download a registration form at the top
of this page.
Under paragraph 47 of Schedule 11, a local authority must refuse an
application for registration if, in the previous five years, the
applicant has had an application for a gambling operating licence
refused or, following a review, has had an existing licence revoked
by the Gambling Commission because it thought that: - the licensed
activity was being carried out in a manner inconsistent with the
licensing objectives;
- a condition of the licence was breached;
- the licensee failed to cooperate with a review; or
- the licensee was unsuitable to carry out the licensed
activity.
A gambling operating licence may also be revoked for other reasons
but only these reasons constitute a basis on which registration of
small society lotteries must be refused.
Under paragraph 48 of Schedule 11, a local authority may also
refuse an application if:
- the applicant is not a non-commercial society;
- a person who will or may be connected with the promotion of the
lottery has been convicted of a relevant offence (104Kb) (Opens new
window) (as defined under section 126 and schedule 7 of the
Act); or
- information provided in or with the application for
registration is false or misleading.
Filing of records
The promoting society must send to the local authority with which
the society is registered a
statement containing information regarding
each lottery (23Kb) (Opens new winndow). This
statement must be supplied to the local authority within the
period of three months beginning with the day on which the draw,
or last draw, in the lottery takes place.
This statement must be signed by two members of the society who are
appointed for the purpose in writing by the society, or if it has
one its governing body, and it must be accompanied by a copy of the
appointment.
It is an offence not to submit a statement for each lottery
held.
Written records of any unsold or returned tickets should be
retained by the society for a period of one year from the date of
the lottery draw.
Fees
The initial application fee is £40 and
the annual fee due on the anniversary of the date of registration
is £20.