Licensing

A customer lottery is a lottery run by the occupiers of business premises, who sell tickets only to customers present on the premises.

The Gambling Act 2005 (the Act) (www.opsi.gov.uk/Acts/acts2005/ukpga_20050019_en_1) requires that in customer lotteries:

• the lottery must be arranged to ensure that no profit is made;
• tickets may be sold or supplied only by or on behalf of the promoter;
• no advertisement may be displayed or distributed, except on the business premises, nor sent to any other premises;
• another customer lottery cannot take place within seven days on the same business premises;
• tickets (and the rights they represent) are non transferable;
• no ticket may result in the winner receiving a prize worth more than £50;
• no roll-overs of prizes are permitted.

Each ticket in a customer lottery must state:

• the name and address of the promoter of the lottery;
• the people to whom the promoters can sell or supply tickets;
• that the rights conferred by the sale or supply of a ticket in a customer lottery are not transferable.

The following would normally be exempt from regulatory control under the Act:

• prize competitions and free prize draws;
• prize skill competitions;
• free draws.

For more information, contact the Gambling Commission (www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/Client/index.asp?ContentId=1).

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