Tombola

A tombola is a form of lottery where participants draw a ticket and discover immediately whether they have won a prize. It is one of the most common stall formats at school fairs, church fetes, and community events across the UK. Legally, a tombola is classified as an incidental lottery under the Gambling Act 2005 when it takes place at an event, and the same rules apply as for any other event-based raffle.

How a Tombola Differs from a Raffle

A standard raffle and a tombola are both lotteries — participants pay, prizes are awarded, and the outcome is determined by chance. The difference is in the format.

The instant-win format means a tombola requires no separate draw procedure, no stub collection, and no post-event winner notification. It is self-contained at the stall.

Legal Position

A tombola at an event operates as an incidental lottery. The conditions are:

• tickets sold at the event only
• the draw (each individual ticket draw) takes place at the event
• no more than £500 deducted from proceeds for prizes
• no more than £100 deducted for expenses
• results determined at the event

Because each ticket is drawn and resolved immediately, the "draw during the event" condition is inherently satisfied. The tombola is, by its nature, incidental — it is a stall at a larger event, not a standalone activity.

No registration or licence is needed for an event-based tombola. No return is required after the event.

A tombola run outside an event context — for example, a standalone tombola stall on a high street with no accompanying event — would not qualify as an incidental lottery. The lottery would need to be structured as a small society lottery or another qualifying type.

The Numbering System

The standard tombola uses a simple numbering system to determine winners. Tickets are numbered sequentially (typically 1 to 500, or 1 to 1,000). Tickets ending in a specific digit — most commonly 0 or 5 — win a prize.

With tickets ending in 0 or 5 as winners, 20% of tickets are winning tickets (every fifth number). This gives participants a roughly 1-in-5 chance of winning, which is the conventional tombola ratio.

Variations exist:

• Tickets ending in 0 only — 10% win rate (1 in 10). Used when the prize budget is lower or prizes are higher in individual value.
• Tickets ending in 0, 5, or any even number — higher win rates for children's tombolas where the emphasis is on participation.
• Colour-coded tickets — winning tickets are a different colour from non-winning tickets. Less common but used where numbered tickets are not available.

The numbering system must be decided before tickets are placed in the drum. The number of prizes must match the number of winning tickets — if 100 tickets out of 500 are winners (those ending in 0 or 5), there must be 100 prizes available.

Setting Up a Tombola Stall

A tombola stall requires three elements: a container for the tickets, a display of prizes, and a clear system for matching winning tickets to prizes.

The container

The traditional tombola uses a rotating drum or barrel — a cylindrical container that can be spun to mix the tickets. Purpose-built tombola drums are available from event suppliers and are commonly owned by schools, churches, and community groups.

Alternatives include large tubs, buckets, or bags. The container must be opaque (participants should not be able to see the ticket numbers before drawing) and large enough to hold all tickets with room for mixing. A container that is too small results in tickets settling in layers, with later draws pulling from the same area rather than being genuinely random.

Prize display

Prizes are displayed on a table behind or beside the stall. Each prize is numbered to correspond with a winning ticket number. When a participant draws a winning ticket, they claim the prize matching that number.

Alternatively, prizes can be grouped by category rather than individually numbered. Winning ticket holders choose a prize from the available display. This is simpler to administer but means early participants have more choice than later ones.

Stall layout

The stall operator sits or stands behind the container. Participants approach, pay, draw a ticket (or tickets), and check whether they have won. If the ticket is a winner, they claim a prize. If not, the ticket is discarded. The drawn ticket is not returned to the container — each ticket is drawn once only.

Prizes

Tombola prizes are typically lower in individual value but higher in volume than standard raffle prizes. A school fair tombola might have 100 prizes valued at 50p to £5 each, compared to a raffle with 5 prizes valued at £20 to £200.

Common tombola prize sources:

• Donated goods from parents or congregation members. The most cost-effective source. A request for "unwanted gifts" or "tombola donations" typically generates a large volume of suitable items — toiletries, candles, books, toys, food items, household goods.
• Purchased items. Bought in bulk to fill gaps in the prize table. Multipacks of sweets, small toys, or novelty items can be split into individual prizes at low cost per unit.
• Themed prizes. A chocolate tombola (every prize is chocolate), bottle tombola (every prize is a bottle — wine, spirits, soft drinks, sauces), or pamper tombola (toiletries, bath products) uses a single theme to simplify sourcing and create a clear identity for the stall.

The £500 prize deduction limit for incidental lotteries applies to the total amount deducted from tombola ticket sale proceeds to fund prizes. Donated prizes do not count against this limit. A tombola with £400 in donated goods and £80 in purchased items is well within the limit.

Pricing

Tombola tickets are typically priced between 20p and £1 each, with most stalls charging 50p per ticket or offering strips of tickets (e.g. 5 tickets for £1).

The pricing should reflect the value of the prizes and the expected audience. A children's tombola at a school fair with small toy prizes is typically priced at 20p–50p per ticket. An adult bottle tombola with wine and spirits is typically priced at £1 per ticket.

Because a tombola at an event operates as an incidental lottery, the uniform pricing rule does not apply. Variable pricing and bundle offers ("50p each or 3 for £1") are permitted.

The relationship between ticket price, number of tickets, win rate, and prize cost determines the tombola's profitability:

The net figure improves significantly when prizes are sourced through donation rather than purchase — a consistent pattern across all raffle and tombola formats.

Children's Tombola

A separate children's tombola is common at school fairs and community events. It operates identically to an adult tombola but with age-appropriate prizes (small toys, sweets, stickers, craft items) and a lower ticket price (typically 20p–50p).

The age restriction on purchasing lottery tickets (under 16) applies to tombolas as it does to all lotteries. At a children's tombola, the transaction should be between the stall operator and an accompanying adult. In practice, at school fairs where the entire event is supervised, this is managed pragmatically — but the legal position is that the ticket purchase is made by the adult, not the child.

Tombola at the Same Event as a Raffle

An event can run both a tombola and a standard raffle simultaneously. Each is a separate incidental lottery, and each must independently meet the incidental lottery conditions. The £500 prize deduction limit and £100 expense limit apply to each lottery separately — they are not shared or combined across the two.

A school summer fair with a raffle (£400 in purchased prizes) and a tombola (£80 in purchased prizes) is compliant — each is within its own £500 limit. If both were combined into a single lottery, the total would still be within the limit, but they are legally separate lotteries and are assessed independently.

Questions about tombolas? See our help centre.

Last reviewed: February 2026