How Many Raffle Tickets to Order

The number of raffle tickets to order depends on the expected audience size, ticket price, number of sellers, and sales period. Ordering too few costs the society lost revenue during a successful sales period. Ordering too many adds a modest printing cost for unused stock. Of the two errors, running out is significantly more expensive. The standard approach is to order at least twice the number of tickets expected to sell.

The 2x Rule

The general rule for ticket quantities is to order at least twice the expected sales volume. If the society expects to sell 1,000 tickets, order 2,000. If the target is 500, order 1,000.

The logic is straightforward. Raffle ticket printing is inexpensive relative to the revenue each ticket generates. A ticket priced at £1 that costs a few pence to print represents a high margin. Running out of tickets during active selling — particularly at an event where demand is strong — means turning away willing buyers. The cost of 500 unused tickets is far less than the lost revenue from 500 tickets that could have been sold but were not available.

The 2x rule also provides a buffer for operational reality. Not every ticket distributed to sellers is sold. Some are lost, damaged, or returned unsold. A healthy surplus ensures the society never has to interrupt sales to source additional stock.

Factors Affecting Quantity

Several variables influence how many tickets a raffle will sell.

Event attendance

For event-based raffles (incidental lotteries), the expected attendance is the primary factor. Not every attendee buys a raffle ticket, and those who do often buy more than one. A typical conversion rate at a school fair or community event is 40–60% of attendees buying tickets, with an average of 3–5 tickets per buyer.

An event expecting 200 attendees might sell 80–120 individual transactions, totalling 300–500 tickets. Ordering 800–1,000 tickets provides adequate headroom.

Ticket price

Lower-priced tickets sell in higher volumes. At 50p per ticket, buyers commonly purchase strips of five or ten. At £5 per ticket, buyers typically purchase one or two. The price point directly affects the total number of tickets the society needs.

A raffle targeting £2,000 in revenue needs 4,000 tickets at 50p, 2,000 tickets at £1, or 400 tickets at £5. The quantity ordered must reflect the chosen price point.

Number of sellers and sales duration

Raffles with more sellers over a longer period sell more tickets. A school PTA selling tickets at the gate for two weeks with six parent volunteers will sell significantly more than two committee members selling at a single event.

For small society lotteries with advance sales, the number of sellers, the locations where they sell, and the duration of the sales period all affect total volume. Each seller should be given a defined allocation of tickets and should return unsold stock before the draw.

Number and value of prizes

A raffle with a headline prize worth £500 typically sells a greater proportion of its tickets than an identical raffle with a £50 top prize at the same ticket price. Multiple prizes also tend to increase sell-through — a draw with ten prizes has better perceived odds than one with two.

The prize structure does not change the number of tickets to print, but it does change the sell-through rate. A strong prize offering can push sell-through above 70%, while a weak one may result in less than 50%.

Worked Examples

School summer fair (incidental lottery)

PTA Christmas raffle (small society lottery, advance sales)

Charity gala dinner (incidental lottery)

Sports club season-long raffle (small society lottery)

Running Out of Tickets

If tickets sell faster than expected, the society has two options.

Re-order additional tickets. The new tickets must continue the sequential numbering from the original order — if the first batch ran 0001–2000, the reorder starts at 2001. Duplicate numbers must never be issued. All mandatory information (society name, price, promoter, draw date) must be identical. Allow production and delivery time for the reorder.

Stop selling. If the draw date is imminent and there is no time to reorder, the society sells the remaining stock and closes sales. The raffle proceeds with the tickets already sold. This is compliant but represents lost revenue.

The cost of a reorder — both in money and time — is why the 2x rule exists. Ordering sufficient stock from the outset avoids the problem entirely.

Over-Ordering

Unsold tickets are a normal and expected outcome. They represent a small printing cost that is far outweighed by the assurance that the society had enough stock to meet demand.

Unsold tickets should be collected from all sellers, reconciled against the distributed total, and retained with the raffle records. The number of unsold tickets is part of the audit trail — it demonstrates that the society can account for every ticket printed.

Unsold tickets must not be entered into the draw. Only tickets that have been sold and paid for are eligible. Including unsold tickets in the draw pool would mean prizes could be drawn against tickets with no holder — undermining the integrity of the raffle and potentially breaching compliance requirements.

Questions about ticket quantities? See our help centre.

Last reviewed: February 2026