Raffles and lotteries

Types of charity lottery

There are three types of charity lottery:

Small Lotteries - run during events like bazaars, fetes, dinner dances, or sporting events. No more than £250 can be used from the proceeds of the lottery to buy prizes, although the value of donated prizes is unlimited. Tickets must only be sold at the event. These are popular and easy ways to raise funds as small lotteries don’t require the charity register the lottery with their local authority.
Private Lotteries – Charities can run private lotteries, where participation is limited to their members. Again, such lotteries don’t need to be registered as they are not open to the general public. All the proceeds must be either spent on prizes or the activities of the charity.
Society Lotteries – These are the most common and what we would all tend to think of as a charity lottery. Members of the public can buy tickets and the lottery is widely promoted to get the maximum possible number of participants. All these lotteries have to be registered with the Local Authority or the Gaming Board.Tickets must not be sold for more than £2 and nobody under 16 years old can sell or buy lottery tickets.

Raffles play an important part in community fundraising