Lotteries

The Gambling Act 2005 governs the regulation and registration of lotteries. There are several categories of lottery that are regulated by different authorities.

Licensed lotteries

The operators of the lotteries listed below must hold an Operating Licence. The Operating licences - Gambling Commission.

• Large society lottery - where the value of tickets exceeds £20,000 in a single lottery or £250,000 total in a calendar year.
• Local authority lottery - where a minimum of 20% of the proceeds must be used for purposes for which there is permission to expend public funds

Exempt lotteries

Several categories of lottery do not require any permits or licences to operate, examples include:

• Private society lotteries - where tickets are sold only to society members
• Work or residents lotteries - where sellers and purchasers work or live on the same premises
• Customer lotteries - where the lottery is run by a business on its own premises.
• Incidental non-commercial lottery - held at non-commercial events, such as school fetes, etc where the proceeds are not for private gain.

View further detailed information on exempt lotteries.

Registered lotteries

The operators of small society lotteries in the Cheshire East area need to be registered with the Council. Further details and application forms

• Small society lotteries - where ticket sales have a top limit of £20,000 and the society is set up for non-commercial purposes for example sports, cultural or charitable.

If you need further advice or assistance on lotteries, please contact us.

Page last reviewed: 02 August 2024