Community Raffles

Caithness Voluntary Group is registered to run Small Society Lotteries, better known as raffles, as long as they are for one of the following purposes.

• for charitable purposes;
• for the purpose of enabling participation in, or of supporting, sport, athletics, or a cultural activity; or
• for any other non-commercial purpose other than that of private gain.

As the promoting society, only members of CVG can request to run a lottery through us.

We are only able to run one raffle draw in any 7-day period; therefore, we have to have 7 clear days on either side of a raffle draw date. If you would like to find out which dates are available for your raffle draw, please use the contact form at the bottom of this page.  

If you are a Third Sector organisation in Caithness and would like to become a member of Caithness Voluntary Group, a membership application form can be found on the Resources page.

• At least 20% of the proceeds of the raffle must be applied to the purposes of the organisation running the raffle
• No single prize may exceed £25,000 (whether in money, money’s worth, or partly the one and partly the other)
• Every ticket in the raffle must cost the same and the ticket fee must be paid to the organisation before entry into the draw is allowed.

Raffles may involve the issuing of physical or virtual tickets to participants (a virtual ticket being non-physical, for example in the form of an email or text message). The purchaser of a raffle ticket must receive a document which identifies:

• Name of organisation/society to benefit from proceeds
• Main prize(s)
• Cost of ticket
• Date and place of raffle draw
• Name and address of Promoter: 

Alistair Jack

Caithness Voluntary Group

Argyle Suite

Pulteney Centre

Huddart Street

Wick, KW1 5BA

• Each ticket must have a serial number
• “Registered under the Lotteries & Amusements Act 2005 with Highland Council through Caithness Voluntary Group”

The operators of small society lotteries may be required by the licensing board to maintain written records of any unsold and returned tickets for a period of one year from the date of any lottery draw.

Raffle tickets may only be sold by persons over the age of 16 to persons over the age of 16.

Tickets should not be sold in a street, where street includes any bridge, road, lane, footway, subway, square, court or passage (including passages through enclosed premises such as shopping malls); Tickets may be sold from a kiosk, in a shop or door-to-door.

Prizes awarded in small society lotteries can be either cash or non-monetary. 

The amount of money deducted from the proceeds of the lottery to cover prizes and other expenses must not exceed the limits set out by the Act i.e. not more than 80 per cent of the actual proceeds of a lottery may be used to cover prizes and expenses. 

Donated prizes are not counted as part of this 80 per cent but should still be declared on the return following the lottery draw. 

If items containing alcohol are to be awarded as prizes, operators are advised to contact the local police in order to ensure that licensing law is not breached.

The total amount of prizes and the expenses incurred with the running of the lottery must not together comprise more than 80 per cent of the total proceeds of the lottery, thus ensuring that at least 20 per cent of the proceeds of the lottery goes to a good cause.

Caithness Voluntary Group must send to the Highland Council the following information, following each lottery held:

• the arrangements for the lottery – specifically the date on which tickets were available for sale or supply, the dates of any draw and the value of prizes, including any donated prizes. 
• the proceeds of the lottery;
• the amounts deducted by the promoters of the lottery in providing prizes, including prizes in accordance with any rollovers;
• the amounts deducted by the promoters of the lottery in respect of costs incurred in organising the lottery;
• whether any expenses incurred in connection with the lottery were not paid for by deduction from the proceeds, and, if so, the amount of expenses and the sources from which they were paid; and
• the amount applied to the purpose for which the promoting society is conducted (this must be at least 20% of the proceeds).

PLEASE NOTE: No 8 on the returns form requires actual profit.

On completion of the raffle the completed form duly signed by two members of your group and payment of £5 must be returned to Caithness Voluntary Group within 2 months of the raffle draw date; we will then check it over; Alistair will sign as promoter of the raffle and then return it to The Highland Council.