An incidental non-commercial lottery is:
- not promoted for private gain; and
- incidental to a non-commercial event
Such examples may include a lottery held at a school fete or at a social event such as a dinner dance. An event may be regarded as non-commercial if all the money raised at the event, including entrance fees, goes entirely to purposes that are not for private gain. For example a fundraising social event with an entrance fee would be non-commercial if the profits went to a society but would be commercial if the profits were retained by the organiser.
The Act also specifies that:
- 1. The promoters of the lottery may not deduct more than £100 from the proceeds in respect of the expenses incurred in organising the lottery, such as the cost of printing tickets, hire of equipment and so on
- 2. Not more than £500 can be spent on prizes (but other prizes may be donated to the lottery)
- 3. The lottery cannot involve a rollover of prizes from one lottery to another
- 4. All tickets must be sold at the location during the event, and the result made public while the event takes place.
Note: The Licensing Act 2003 permits prizes of alcohol to be offered in lotteries without the need for a premises licence under the 2003 Act.