Gambling licensing policy

Under the Act, a lottery is unlawful unless it runs with an operating licence or is an exempt lottery. The Licensing Authority will register and administer small society lotteries (as defined)*. Promoting or facilitating a lottery will fall within two categories:

• Licensed lotteries – these are large society lotteries and lotteries run for the benefit of local authorities that are regulated by the Commission and require operating licenses
• Exempt lotteries – there are four types of exempt lottery that are expressly permitted under Schedule 11 of the Act, including the small society lottery

*A small society lottery is a lottery promoted on behalf of a non-commercial society as defined in the Act which also meets specific financial requirements set out in the Act.

Licence applications will be administered by the licensing authority for those small societies who have a principal office in Buckinghamshire and want to run such a lottery.

A lottery is classed as small if the total value of tickets put on sale in a single lottery is £20,000 or less and the aggregate value of the tickets put on sale in a calendar year is £250,000 or less.

The council will need to know the purpose for which a society, or any separate branch of such a society, on whose behalf a lottery is to be promoted, has been established so as to ensure that it is a non-commercial organisation. Section 19 of the Act defines a small society as a society established and conducted:

• For charitable purposes, as defined in Section 2 of the Charities Act 2006
• For the purpose of enabling participation in, or of supporting, sport, athletics, or a cultural activity
• For any other non-commercial purpose other than that of private gain

The National Lottery is not licensed by the Gambling Act 2005 and continues to be regulated by the National Lottery Commission under the National Lottery Act 1993.