Lotteries

Lottery registrations

Introduction
Lottery forms

Lottery fees

Introduction
There have been changes to the way in which lotteries will be regulated by Sevenoaks District Council.

On the 1st September 2007, the Gambling Act 2005 came fully into force. This Act makes significant changes to the law on gambling, including lotteries. Under the new provisions, a lottery promoted in Great Britain will be unlawful unless it is either run in accordance with an operating licence issued by the Gambling Commission or it is an exempt lottery.

Exempt lotteries fall into the following categories -

incidental non-commercial lotteries - commonly held at charity fund raising events; private society lotteries - only members of the society and those on society premises can participate in the lottery;
customer lotteries - only customers at the business premises may participate:

work lotteries - only people who work together on the same premises may participate;
residents' lotteries - only people who live at the same premises may participate;
small society lotteries (see below).

Small society lotteries are lotteries promoted for the benefit of a non-commercial society. A society is non-commercial if it is established and conducted:

For charitable purposes;
For the purpose of enabling participation in, or of supporting, sport, athletics or a cultural activity, or
For any other non-commercial purpose other than that of private gain

In order to qualify as a small society lottery, the total value of tickets to be put on sale for a single lottery must be £20,000 or less, or the aggregate value of tickets to be put on sale for all their lotteries in a calendar year must not exceed £250,000. If either of these values are exceeded it will be necessary for the promoter to be licensed by the Gambling Commission under the large society lottery provisions.

Societies who run small society lotteries may operate without a licence from the Gambling Commission provided they register with their local authority and remain registered throughout the period during which the lottery is promoted.

What does this mean if you held a Lottery Permit before 1st September 2007?

The existing registration with the Council under the Lotteries and Amusements Act 1976 has been converted into a small society lottery registration under the Gambling Act 2005. The old registration will therefore no longer be valid, but you can continue to promote lotteries under the new, Gambling Act 2005 registration. The guidance notes explain the rules governing the new registration.

If you wish to remain registered with the Council, and there have been no changes to your registered details, you do not need to make any formal application to the Council. However, an annual fee of £20 is payable on an annual basis between 1st November and 31st Decemberin each subsequent year that the registration remains valid.

Further guidance can also be obtained from the following sources:

Lottery guidance notes ( PDF 95K file details)
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Gambling Commission

Lottery Forms:

Lottery application form ( PDF 69K file details)
Lottery application form ( Wordpad Document 64KB file details)
Lottery Returns Form ( PDF File 44KB file details)

Lottery returns form ( Wordpad Document 70KB file details)

Sevenoaks District Council,
Council Offices,
Argyle Road,
Sevenoaks,
Kent
TN13 1HG

01732 227000