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Lotteries

A lottery is a sort of gambling which has 3 essential ingredients:

  1. You have to pay to enter
  2. There is at least one prize
  3. Prizes are awarded purely on chance
Common types of lotteries are raffles, tombolas, sweepstakes and 100 clubs.
 

Blackpool Council is responsible for registering small society lotteries.

The society must be set up for non-commercial purposes such as sports, cultural or charitable.

The total value of tickets to be put on sale in a single lottery must be less than £20,000.

Large society lotteries, such as the National Lottery, where the total value of tickets in a single lottery exceeds £20,000 or the overall value of tickets put on sale in a calendar year exceeds £250,000, are licensed by the Gambling Commission.

Not all lotteries must be licensed.

The most common type of exempt lottery is an incidental non-commercial lottery.

Examples are raffles and tombolas held at school fetes, or social events such as dinner dances.

To be exempt, tickets may only be sold at the event and the result of the lottery must be made public whilst the event takes place.

For further information on incidental non-commercial lotteries and other forms of exempt lottery please see the guidance notes.

Register your small society lottery

Small society lotteries must be registered by the council in the area where your principal office is located. 

Download and complete the application form [PDF 96KB] and submit with the fee of £40 and a copy of the appointment of certified members form.

You should also submit a copy of your society's constitution in order to establish that it is a bona fide non-commercial society . If you have not yet produced a constitution you can use the model constitution template.

Once we receive your complete application we aim to process it within 5 working days.

The registration can be renewed annually at a cost of £20. Registration holders will be written to when their annual fee is due.

Within 3 months of any lottery taking place you need to submit a returns form [PDF 88KB] detailing any expenses deducted.

Contact

Licensing service

Municipal buildings, Corporation Street, Blackpool, FY1 1NF
Telephone 01253 478397

The licensing service is available to contact by telephone between 10.00am and 2.00pm Monday to Friday or visit in person by appointment only at the licensing desk at Blackpool Council's Customer First Centre on Corporation Street . 

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