Do you need a licence to run a raffle in the UK?

By the RaffClub team · 29 October 2026 · 8 min read

Most UK charity raffles don't need a Gambling Commission licence. If you want to sell tickets online, you can either register a small society lottery with your local council or run your raffle as a prize draw with a free entry route, which needs no licence or registration at all.

A full Gambling Commission licence only comes in for much bigger fundraisers. This is general information rather than legal advice, so check the Gambling Commission guidance before you start selling.

Is a raffle a lottery under UK law?

Usually, yes. In England, Scotland and Wales, a raffle where people must pay to enter and winners are picked by chance is a lottery under the Gambling Act 2005. Add a genuine free entry route and it becomes a prize draw instead, which isn't a lottery and needs no licence. Lotteries can only be run for good causes.

Which raffles don't need a licence or registration?

Raffles held at a one-off event or among members of a club usually need no licence or registration. These are exempt lotteries. The catch is that tickets have to be physical and sold in person, so none of them can be sold online or in advance.

Here's how the exempt types compare, based on the Commission's guide to running a lottery or fundraiser.

Type	Who it suits	Where tickets can be sold	Main limits
Incidental lottery	A raffle or tombola at a fete, fair, quiz night or fundraising dinner	At the event, while it's running	Up to £100 of proceeds on expenses and £500 on bought prizes; no advance or online sales
Private society lottery	Sports clubs, members' clubs and community groups	To members, and to guests on the society's own premises	Physical tickets at one price; drawn on the premises; no online sales

The incidental lottery is the one most charities and PTAs already run without knowing its name. It has to sit alongside something else, like a summer fair or a Christmas dinner, and anyone at the event can buy a ticket. Donated prizes don't count towards the £500 limit.

The trouble is the reach. An event raffle only sells to the people in the room, and you can't take a single ticket sale before the doors open. If you want supporters who can't make it to take part, you need one of the two online routes below.

Can you run a raffle as a prize draw without a licence?

Yes. A prize draw with a free entry route needs no Gambling Commission licence and no council registration. People can still buy tickets online, but anyone must also be able to enter for free, usually by post. The Commission says that as long as the draw meets its requirements, you don't need a licence or permission to run it.

The Commission's page on free draws and prize competitions sets out what the free route has to look like:

People can choose to take part without paying.
The free route costs no more and is no less convenient than buying a ticket. Special delivery doesn't count as free.
The choice between free and paid entry is promoted as clearly as the paid option.
Free and paid entries are treated exactly the same in the draw.

Get any of those wrong and the Commission warns you may be running an illegal lottery, so the free route has to be real rather than hidden in the small print.

The good news for fundraisers is that very few people use it. Across thousands of prize draw entries on RaffClub, only four have come through the free postal route. People entering a charity draw are there to support the cause, so a proper free route keeps you compliant without making a noticeable dent in what you raise.

On RaffClub, the free postal entry route is built into every prize draw, and we sort any postal entries for you. Prize draws are open to over 18s, in line with the government's voluntary code of good practice for prize draw operators, which also asks for each entry to have an equal chance of winning.

If you're planning one for the festive season, our guide to running a Christmas raffle for your charity takes you through it step by step.

When do you need to register a small society lottery?

You need to register a small society lottery with your local council if you want to sell paid-only raffle tickets beyond a single event, for example online, door to door or in the weeks before. Registration costs £40, then £20 a year, and covers ticket sales up to £20,000 per draw and £250,000 a year.

You register with the council where your society's principal office is, and you must be a non-commercial society, such as a charity, sports club or community group, according to the Commission's lotteries toolkit. Once you're registered, the key rules include:

Tickets are only sold to people aged 16 or over.
At least 20% of ticket sales go to your cause.
Tickets can be sold online, by phone, door to door or face to face, but never in the street.

Councils handle applications in their own way, so check yours. The Commission's guide to running a small society lottery has the full set of rules. If you'd rather skip the council step entirely, the prize draw route above needs no registration.

Small society lottery or prize draw: which suits you?

Both let you sell tickets online, in advance and at your events, and both run on RaffClub. A small society lottery needs a council registration and paid entry only. A prize draw needs no registration but must offer a free entry route, so it's the faster option if you aren't registered yet.

	Small society lottery	Prize draw
Licence or registration	Council registration (£40, then £20 a year)	None
Sell online and in advance	Yes	Yes
Who can enter	Aged 16 and over	Over 18s, in line with the voluntary code
Free entry route	Not needed	Required, usually by post
Limits	£20,000 per draw, £250,000 a year, top prize up to £25,000	Lottery limits don't apply
Paperwork afterwards	Return to the council within three months	No council return
On RaffClub	Supported	Supported, with the postal route built in

If you already hold a small society lottery registration, launching on RaffClub is just as quick either way. If you don't, running your raffle as a prize draw means you can start selling straight away, without waiting for your council to process an application.

Can you run a raffle online without a licence?

Yes, as long as it's set up the right way. The Commission says there are no exemptions for running a lottery online, so a paid-only online raffle needs a small society lottery registration. A prize draw with a free entry route needs no licence or registration. RaffClub supports both, so you can pick the route that suits you.

What you can't do is sell raffle numbers in a Facebook post or WhatsApp group without either of those in place. The Commission's answer on social media raffles is clear that lotteries offered on social media need a licence or a registration. A lot of well-meaning groups get caught out here.

Running your raffle on a platform built for it takes the guesswork out. On RaffClub your charity stays the promoter. The platform takes ticket payments and gives each buyer a digital ticket, so every entry is recorded. Draws are run by an independent third party, so every result is verified and traceable.

Disability Snowsport UK, the first charity to fundraise on RaffClub, signed up and set up its draw in the 15 minutes before its onboarding call.

Do the rules differ in Scotland and Northern Ireland?

Scotland follows the same Gambling Act 2005 rules as England and Wales, with the Gambling Commission as regulator. Northern Ireland is different. Lotteries there come under the Betting, Gaming, Lotteries and Amusements (Northern Ireland) Order 1985, and a society that wants to promote a public lottery registers with its district council.

As an example, Mid Ulster District Council charges £35 to register and £17.50 a year to renew. Other councils may differ, so check yours before you sell tickets in Northern Ireland.

How do you work out which option is right for your raffle?

Start with where you want to sell tickets. If it's only at your event, on the day, an incidental lottery needs no registration. If you want to sell online or in advance, choose between a small society lottery registration and a prize draw with a free entry route. Both work on RaffClub.

FAQs

Can under-18s buy raffle tickets?

It depends on the type. Small society lottery tickets can be sold to people aged 16 or over. Prize draws on RaffClub are open to over 18s, in line with the government's voluntary code. At an incidental lottery, such as a raffle at a school fair, anyone at the event can buy a ticket.

Do we need to register a raffle at our school fair?

Not if tickets are only sold at the fair while it's running, because that's an incidental lottery. If your PTA wants to sell tickets online or send them home beforehand, you'll need either a small society lottery registration or a prize draw with a free entry route.

Do we ever need a Gambling Commission licence?

Only if a single lottery is expected to sell more than £20,000 of tickets, or your society's lottery sales will pass £250,000 in a calendar year. Most charity, PTA and club raffles sit well under those figures, and a compliant prize draw doesn't need one. The Commission's lotteries licence page explains the licence types and fees.

Does a free entry route reduce what we raise?

Hardly at all. Postal entries make up a tiny share of prize draw entries on RaffClub. Supporters enter charity draws to back the cause, so almost everyone buys a ticket.

Start your raffle on RaffClub

RaffClub gives your charity, PTA or club everything it needs to sell raffle tickets online. Use your small society lottery registration, or launch straight away as a prize draw with the free entry route already built in. Setting up takes minutes.

Get started

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