on-line raffles or lottery

[ColinC001]

is a uk gaming licence needed to run a raffle or lottery on a website in the uk (and can non-uk surfers take part)?

[Buenchico]

(Posted in 2 parts):

Firstly, any raffle or lottery would need to be registered with the local authority for the area in which the group organising the lottery is based. Such registration is only available to charities or similar 'societies' (e.g. a sports club or a school parent-teacher group). Private individuals and commercial organisations cannot run raffles or lotteries (although charities and 'societies' can employ commercial companies as their agents to promote lotteries). These provisions all fall within the Lotteries and Amusements Act 1976. Section 2 of this Act also forbids the sale of tickets to overseas purchasers.

[Buenchico]

(2nd part):

Even if all of these conditions can be met, there are still legal uncertainties about the sale of lottery tickets over the internet. (The National Lottery is exempt as it is covered by separate legislation). Here is the 'official', Gaming Board,view:
"A lottery may only be conducted on the Internet providing it has been registered with either the appropriate local authority or the Gaming Board, in accordance with the usual rules for promoting a lottery under the Act.
Lottery tickets may be sold almost anywhere except in the street. They can be sold by post or by telephone, but not by means of a machine. The Gaming Board's view is that a lottery run entirely by computer via the Internet amounts to selling tickets by means of a machine, and it has refused to authorise such lotteries. The Gaming Board has, however, granted permission for two Lottery Managing Companies to run lotteries over the Internet in much the same way as using the telephone - as a means of communication connecting the buyers and sellers of lottery tickets. The actual sale of the tickets must be carried out by human agency. All lottery tickets must be paid for before they are entered into the draw.
Foreign lotteries may not be promoted in Great Britain. It would, therefore, not be lawful to advertise an overseas Internet lottery or to sell tickets abroad under section 2 of the 1976 Act."

Information source:
http://www.culture.gov.uk/gambling_and_racing/fact_sheet s/fact_internet_gambling.htm

Chris