Workplace Raffles

Office raffles, workplace sweepstakes, and team charity draws are common in UK workplaces. Under the Gambling Act 2005, a workplace raffle is classified as a lottery and must comply with one of the recognised categories. The most common classification for a workplace raffle is the work lottery — a type of private lottery restricted to people who work on the same premises. This requires no registration and no licence, but it is subject to specific conditions.

Legal Position

The Gambling Act 2005 defines a work lottery as a private lottery where all participants work on the same premises. It is one of three types of private lottery (alongside private society lotteries and residents' lotteries).

A work lottery requires:

• all participants work on the same premises (the same building or site)
• no advertising outside the workplace
• all proceeds go to prizes or are applied for purposes agreed by the participants (such as a charity donation)
• no profit to any individual — the organiser cannot take a cut
• tickets state that it is a private lottery and identify the workplace

No registration with the local authority is needed. No Gambling Commission licence is needed. No return is required after the draw. The administrative burden is minimal.

The Premises Requirement

The most significant restriction on work lotteries is the premises requirement. All participants must work on the same premises. "Premises" means a single physical location — one building, one office, one site.

A raffle across two office buildings does not qualify as a work lottery, even if both buildings belong to the same company. A raffle including employees from a head office and a warehouse at a different address does not qualify. A raffle across a company with employees at multiple locations does not qualify.

This restriction exists because the Gambling Act defines each type of private lottery by reference to a closed, identifiable group. The premises boundary is the defining criterion for a work lottery.

Remote and Hybrid Workers

The premises requirement creates a specific challenge for organisations with remote, hybrid, or distributed teams. An employee who works from home is not "on the same premises" as colleagues in the office.

A work lottery that includes remote workers alongside office-based workers does not meet the private lottery conditions. The remote workers are not on the premises, and including them expands the raffle beyond the defined group.

Organisations wishing to run a raffle that includes remote staff have several options:

Restrict participation to those on site. Only employees physically present at the premises on the day of the draw may participate. This satisfies the work lottery conditions but excludes remote staff.

Run the raffle as a private society lottery. If the employees are members of a workplace social club, sports team, or similar society, the raffle can operate as a private society lottery — restricted to members of that society rather than to workers on specific premises. The society must exist for a purpose other than running the lottery, and all members are eligible regardless of location.

Run the raffle at a workplace event. If the company holds an all-hands meeting, away day, or social event where all staff are present at the same premises, a raffle at that event operates as an incidental lottery — no premises restriction on participation, provided tickets are sold and drawn at the event.

Employer-Run vs Employee-Run

The question of who is running the raffle affects both the legal position and the HR implications.

Employee-organised. An employee or group of employees organises the raffle informally — selling tickets around the office, collecting money, and conducting a draw. This is the most common workplace raffle format. The organiser is acting in a personal capacity, not on behalf of the employer. The raffle must comply with work lottery rules, and the organiser takes responsibility for ensuring it does.

Employer-organised. The employer runs the raffle as a company activity — perhaps as part of a team event, holiday celebration, or charity initiative. The employer (or a designated employee acting on behalf of the employer) is the promoter. If company funds are used for prizes, the raffle proceeds should go to a defined purpose (charity, social fund) rather than to individual profit.

The distinction matters for tax, for HR policy compliance, and for accountability if something goes wrong. An employer-organised raffle is a company activity and the company bears responsibility for compliance. An employee-organised raffle is a personal initiative and the individual organiser bears responsibility.

HR and Company Policy

Many employers have policies covering workplace gambling, which may include raffles. Even though a work lottery is legally permitted without registration, the employer's internal policies may impose additional requirements.

Common policy requirements include:

• approval from a line manager or HR before running a raffle
• a cap on ticket prices (to prevent pressure on lower-paid employees)
• a requirement that participation is genuinely voluntary
• restrictions on the frequency of workplace raffles
• a requirement that proceeds go to charity rather than to an individual prize winner

The most important principle is that participation must be voluntary. No employee should feel pressured to buy a raffle ticket, whether the pressure comes from a colleague, a manager, or a company-wide expectation. The Equality Act 2010 is also relevant — a raffle format that excludes employees with certain protected characteristics (for example, a raffle with alcohol prizes that excludes employees who do not drink for religious reasons) may raise concerns.

Reporting and Record Keeping

Private lotteries — including work lotteries — have no statutory reporting requirement. No return is submitted to the local authority. No records are required to be retained for a specific period.

In practice, the organiser should keep a basic record of tickets sold, money collected, prizes awarded, and any amounts donated to charity. This protects the organiser against allegations of mishandling funds and provides transparency to participants.

Regular Workplace Raffles

Some workplaces run raffles regularly — a monthly draw, a weekly sweepstake, or a recurring charity raffle. Each draw is a separate work lottery, and each must independently meet the private lottery conditions.

Regular draws do not require registration, regardless of frequency. The Gambling Act does not impose a limit on the number of private lotteries that can be run at the same premises. However, very frequent draws with significant sums changing hands may attract attention from the employer's compliance or HR function, and the organiser should be aware of any company policy on the matter.

Charity Raffles at Work

A common format is the workplace charity raffle — employees buy tickets, and the proceeds are donated to a chosen charity rather than awarded as a cash prize.

If the raffle operates as a work lottery (premises-restricted, no external advertising, all proceeds to prizes or an agreed purpose), no registration is needed. The charity receives the donation from the organiser, not directly from the raffle — the raffle is a private lottery, and the subsequent donation is a separate act.

If the charity itself wishes to run the raffle (rather than an employee running it on behalf of the charity), the charity can register as a small society lottery. The raffle would then operate under the charity's registration, with a charity representative or authorised employee as the named promoter. This allows advance ticket sales, sales to non-employees, and public promotion — but with the corresponding obligations of a small society lottery.

Questions about workplace raffles? See our help centre.

Last reviewed: February 2026