Definition of lottery

A lottery is defined as an arrangement which falls into one of the following two categories.

Simple lottery:

• persons are required to pay in order to participate in the arrangement;
• in the course of the arrangement one or more prizes are allocated to one or more members of a class;
• the prizes are allocated by a process which relies wholly on chance.

Complex lottery:

• persons are required to pay in order to participate in the arrangement;
• in the course of the arrangement one or more prizes are allocated to one or more members of a class;
• the prizes are allocated by a series of processes; and
• the first of those processes relies wholly on chance.

Types of lotteries

A lottery is unlawful unless it is run in accordance with an operating licence issued by the Gambling Commission (www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/Client/index.asp?ContentId=1) or it is an exempt lottery. The exceptions are:

• incidental non-commercial lotteries (those that are run as an additional amusement at non-commercial events with tickets sold only during the event, such as a raffle at a dance or church fair;
• private lotteries (those that require members of a society, place of work or single residential unit e.g. a raffle at a student hall of residence);
• customer lotteries (run by occupiers of a business for the benefit of the customers who buy tickets sold on the premises e.g. supermarket holding a hamper raffle);
• small society lotteries.

Licensing Unit Responsibility

We are responsible for the registration of small society lotteries in the Medway area. These are non-commerical societies established and conducted:

• for charitable purposes;
• for the purpose of enabling participation in or of supporting, sport, athletics or a cultural activity;
• for any other non-commerical purpose other than private gain.

Further information and legislation can be found on the following websites

• Gambling Commission
• Department of Culture Media and Sport
• The Lotteries Council
• Office of Fair Trading