As the gambling commission have set out in their information guide, “You do not need permission or a licence from the Commission or a licensing authority to run genuine prize competitions or free draws.”
Now whilst you may not need to get permission from anybody, there are extremely strict and stringent rules when it comes to the setting up of a raffle competition and the gambling commission also “strongly recommend that you seek legal advice” surrounding the eligibility of your business and to ensure you aren’t crossing the boundary. Those who do, the gambling commission have said they will prosecute where possible.
So the question you’re asking, what are these strict and stringent rules? Well, as Di Coke explains in her SuperLucky Blog, Lotteries are strictly regulated in the UK. That being said, if an element of skill or knowledge is added into that lottery, it then becomes a competition and is no longer regulated under the Gambling Act. If more than one person gets the answer correct, names can be added to draw and one winner can be picked at random.
Now, to a lot of people this may seem like too much of an easy fix to bypass a lot of serious regulations, and the questions themselves show this. In Di’s blog she done some digging and found an example of a question that is being used before you can purchase a ticket on one of the leading raffle competition sites at the moment.
As a result of easily bypassing these regulations, hosts can make extreme profits that exploit a loophole and ultimately the consumer.
We aim to tackle this by pledging from launch a maximum of 500 tickets in one raffle (you must remember we have to cover for the big raffles, like paid student halls potentially!) and never pricing a ticket above £5. In addition to this, while we don’t aim to send a percentage of ticket sales to charity from launch, we will be updating a regular monthly blog, where we look to go and make a difference either in the local community, or the wider community using the profits from Student Raffle UK, and bringing the various issues that we address, to the forefront of discussion amongst communities, through our blog.
Gambling Commission legal guidance PDF: https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/PDF/quick-guides/Prize-competitions-and-free-draws-quick-guide.pdf
Di Coke's SuperLucky Blog: https://superlucky.me/pay-to-enter-competitions-are-they-gambling/
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