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Tombolas and the Law

A tombola is actually a lottery - and subject to the law on gambling.

You can lawfully hold a tombola under the Ganbling Act 2005 at a fundraising event where the proceeds are for charity or some other good cause.

The tombola must be an "incidental feature" of your fundraising event - and not the only reason why people attend the event.  There must be other attractions too - like games, or things to buy, or refreshments.

Children and young people can buy tickets.  But there are other rules you must follow:

• all of the proceeds - apart from money spent on prizes and other necessary expenditures in organising the tombola - must go towards supporting your group's activities or some other good cause
• you can only sell tickets at the event itself - but you can sell as many tickets as you like, and at whatever price you want
• you can't have cash prizes - and the amount of money that can be spent on buying prizes (excluding donated prizes) cannot exceed £500 in total, nor can you spend more than £100 on expenses (like having tombola tickets printed)

These laws apply in Great Britain.  In Northern Ireland, the law is similar - except that you have to inform the police of your event 7 days beforehand, tell participants how the proceeds will be used, and keep accounts of how the money was spent.