Guide to Small Society Lotteries

What is a Lottery?

In essence a lottery is an arrangement which satisfies the statutory description of either a simple lottery or a complex lottery, as per section 14 of the Gambling Act 2005 (“the Act”).

An arrangement is a simple lottery if:

• persons are required to pay to participate;
• one or more prizes are allocated to one or more members of a class; and
• the prizes are allocated by a process which relies wholly on chance.

An arrangement is a complex lottery if:

• persons are required to pay to participate;
• one or more prizes are allocated to one or more members of a class;
• the prizes are allocated by a series of processes; and
• the first of those processes relies wholly on chance.

Arrangements that fulfil all of the criteria of either of the above categories are defined as a lottery under the Act.