Sports club fundraising raffles — a step-by-step how-to

TL;DR

A UK sports club can run an online raffle as a small society lottery (registered with the local authority) or as a prize competition with a free-entry route. The society lottery route is usually the right one if the club is non-commercial and the raffle's purpose is to fund club operations. Prizes that work: match-day tickets, signed kit, a meal at a club sponsor, or a 50/50 cash draw at a home fixture.

1. Pick a route (and register)

If the club is a constituted non-commercial society — most amateur clubs are — register it with your local authority as a small society lottery. You can hold lotteries with up to £20,000 of tickets per draw and £250,000 per calendar year. Tickets cost a minimum of 50p and at least 20% of proceeds must go to club purposes.

If you're running something one-off and want to skip registration, structure it as a prize competition with a free-entry route. Slightly more compliance work in the rules and on the entry page, but no local-authority involvement.

The full walkthrough: how to run a charity raffle (the small-society-lottery process is identical for clubs).

2. Pick a prize that fits the club

• Hospitality at a home fixture — pitch-side, mascot, post-match meet-and-greet.
• Signed kit from a recognised player.
• A 50/50 cash draw at a fixture — half the pot to a winner, half to the club.
• A donated weekend stay or a meal at a club sponsor.
• A used car in good condition — boring on paper, but it consistently sells tickets.

More on what works: raffle ideas and prize ideas that actually sell tickets.

3. Set a ticket price

The only legal rule is that every ticket must be sold at the same price and paid for before entry. Raffair's own floor is 50p for charity society lotteries and £1 for everything else; £1–£5 is the practical range for the prizes above. Higher prices work better for high-value prizes (cars, signed shirts) and lower prices for matchday-based 50/50 draws. See our pricing page for how the platform fee stacks on top.

4. Promote at the ground and online

The clubhouse, the PA, the matchday programme, and the local Facebook page do most of the work. Email opt-ins gathered from previous matchday entries are the single best re-engagement channel for the next raffle.

Stay inside the platform ad rules — see how to promote a raffle without breaking ad rules.