Lottery, raffle and bingo licences

Organisations wishing to hold any type of "draw" that will be open to the general public will need to apply to the council for a small lotteries licence. The cost for such a licence is £40 and they run from 1 January to 31 December every year. If you wish to renew the licence in subsequent years, the cost is currently £20 per annum due before the anniversay of the registration. These costs are set by the Government. You can apply for a licence using the application form on the right of the page.

If, however, you think it may not be worthwhile paying £40 for a licence, you can still raise funds but you need to restrict your sale of tickets. This can be achieved by holding a "private", "work", or "resident's" lottery whereby the tickets are confined to members of a society, club, institution etc. This would mean tickets could not be sold to the general public at large.

Alternatively, you can also raise funds as part of an incidental non-commercial lottery. These are exempt from registration if:

• No proceeds from the event will be used for the purposes of private gain.
• The lottery is promoted wholly for a purpose other than that of private gain (i.e. for a charitable purpose or good cause).
• The promoters of the lottery will not be deducting more than £500 from the proceeds in respect of the cost of prizes.
• The promoters of the lottery will not be deducting more than £100 from the proceeds in respect of the cost of other expenses.
• There will be no lottery roll over.
• Tickets will only be sold during the event and on the premises where the event is being held.
• The results will be made public while the event is taking place.

Cash bingo

Cash bingo is primarily a commercial activity, and is licensed and regulated by The Gambling Commission. If you wish to provide cash bingo on a commercial basis you should consult the Gambling Commission website This link will take you to an external website... .