Private Lotteries
Last updated: 25 September 2007 12:26 UKThere are three types of private lotteries that qualify as exempt lotteries which are:
· Private society lottery – these can only be promoted by authorised members of the society; and tickets can only be sold to other members of that same society, or to persons on the society premises. The lottery can only be promoted for a purpose for which the society is conducted, and the society can be any group or society, so long as it is not established and conducted for purposes connected to gambling.
· Work lottery – the promoter of the lottery must work on the premises and tickets can only be sold to other people who work on the same premises. The lottery must not be run for profit and all the proceeds must be used for prizes or reasonable expenses incurred with organising the lottery.
· Residents’ lottery – these must not be run for profit and all the proceeds must be used for prizes or reasonable expenses. The promoter of the lottery must reside on a single set of premises and tickets can only be sold to other residents of the same set of premises. A person can still satisfy the residency requirement even where the premises are not the sole premises in which a person resides.
The Act requires that no advertisements for the above private lotteries may be displayed or distributed except at the society or work premises or the relevant residence.
Rollovers are prohibited in private lotteries.
Whilst exempt from registration, private lotteries must comply with conditions set out in schedule 11 of the Act which relate to the price and format of tickets. In brief, the requirements are:
· A ticket in a private society lottery may only be sold or supplied by the promoter or another person who is a member of the same society, in a works lottery by the promoter or another person employed on the same premises, or in the case of a residents’ lottery, by the promoter or another person who resides on the same premises,
· Rights conferred by tickets are not transferable and this must be made clear on the lottery tickets.
· Each ticket must state the name and address of the promoter(s) of the lottery and the class of persons to whom the promoter(s) can sell or supply tickets.
· The price paid for each ticket in a private lottery must be the same, must be shown on the ticket and must be paid to the promoters of the lottery before any person is given a ticket,
Private lotteries may not be conducted on vessels. The definition of a vessel (section 353(1) of the Act) is:
· Anything (other than a seaplane or amphibious vehicle), designed or adapted for navigation or other use in, on or over water;
· A hovercraft; or
· Anything, or any part of any place, situated on or in water.
Customer lotteries
A customer lottery is a lottery run by the occupiers of business premises, who sell tickets only to customers present on their premises.
The Act sets out the following stipulations:
· Tickets for the lottery can only be sold to a person on the business premises as a customer of the promoter.
· The lottery must be arranged to ensure that no profit is made; therefore the proceeds can only be used for reasonable expenses and the provision of prizes.
· A ticket in a customer lottery may only be sold or supplied by the promoter or by someone on their behalf.
· No advertisement may be:
· Displayed or distributed except on the business premises;
· Sent to any other premises;
· The lottery therefore can only be advertised on the premises on which it is held.
· No ticket may result in the winner receiving a prize worth more than £50.
· No rollovers of prizes are permitted.
· Each ticket must state:
- The name and address of the promoter of the lottery.
- The class of persons to whom the promoter can sell or supply tickets.
- That the rights conferred by the sale or supply of a ticket in a customer lottery are not transferable.
· Customer lotteries may not take place within seven days of another customer lottery promoted on the same business premises.
Customer lotteries are not permitted to be conducted on vessels as per the definition outlined above.
