Lottery, raffle or traditional lottery organized by an association

Verified 25 April 2024 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

As an association, would you like to know if you can organize gambling? In principle, gambling is prohibited, apart from the national lottery and casinos. However, the organization of lotteries or tombolas and traditional lotteries is authorized to associations under certain conditions. We'll give you the information you need.

The organization of gambling, without respecting the conditions laid down, can result in a fine of €90,000 and 3 years in prison.

Lottery, raffle

A lottery or a raffle is a game of chance in which the player, in return for a financial contribution, tries his luck to obtain a win.

An association can organize a lottery if the 3 conditions the following are respected:

  • The benefits of the lottery are totally intended for scientific, social, family, humanitarian, philanthropic, educational, sporting or cultural causes or for animal protection or environmental protection, non-profit
  • The expected gain consists of movable objects
  • The lottery is authorized by the mayor of the municipality where the association's head office is located (by the police prefect, if the head office is in Paris).

Please note

The association organizing the lottery must have statutes that correspond to one of the criteria specified above (charitable act, encouragement of the arts...).

General case

The application for authorization must be made to the mayor of the municipality where the registered office of the association is located.

Who shall I contact

You must provide the following:

  • Form cerfa no. 11823
  • Statutes of the association (in case of first application)
  • Balance sheet of the last financial year if the issuing capital of the lottery (unit price of the ticket multiplied by the number of tickets issued) exceeds €7,500

If you do not receive a response from the administration within 2 months, you can consider your request to be rejected.

In Paris

The application for authorization must be made to the police commissioner.

Who shall I contact

You must provide the following:

  • Form cerfa no. 11823
  • Statutes of the association (in case of first application)
  • Balance sheet of the last financial year if the issuing capital of the lottery (unit price of the ticket multiplied by the number of tickets issued) exceeds €7,500

Where the issuing capital of the lottery exceeds €30,000, the mayor shall act on the advice of the departmental or regional director of public finance.

In particular, the Directorate-General for Public Finance checks whether the following are being complied with:

  • The association has a certain seniority (no time limit is fixed in the texts) and offers a guarantee of seriousness
  • The budget of the association is balanced and a significant part of the revenue is allocated to charitable activities, arts promotion or sports activities
  • The amount of the issuing capital shall be commensurate with the actual needs created by the proposed action and with the investment possibilities of the banknotes
  • The lottery is exceptional and is not the association's main resource for its operation
  • The amount of the organization fee, including the purchase of lots, does not exceed 15% of the issuing capital

The sums collected must be used for scientific, social, family, humanitarian, philanthropic, educational, sporting or cultural causes or for animal protection or environmental protection.

They must not be used to pay for operating expenses, current expenses or to make up for a deficit due to mismanagement.

The actions financed should not be reserved for members only.

Please note

The precise allocation of the funds collected must be described in the application form for authorization of the lottery.

A non-profit organization whose management is selfless is exempt from commercial tax on sums collected, for its exclusive benefit, during charitable or support events. This up to 6 events per year. 

Lotteries and raffles are among the tax-exempt charity events. Amounts collected are exempt regardless of their amount. The exemption relates to business tax, the VAT: titleContent and the territorial economic contribution (TEC).

As part of these 6 events, the association:

  • Exempt from filing the application for exemption of the six charitable events. It is still obliged to apply for organizational authorizations in the case of permanent or temporary drinking establishments (declaration no later than 24 hours before the event by means of a single letter to the company Tax Office (SIE) of its head office)
  • Must send, if the EIS so requests, the financial result of the events (proof of revenue and expenditure)
Who shall I contact

Traditional Lotto

A traditional lottery is a game of chance where, to win, a participant must first fill in a card bearing several numbers, corresponding to lottery balls drawn by lot by an organizer.

An association can organize without authorization a traditional lotto if the 4 conditions the following are respected:

  • The lottery is organized at non-profit for scientific, social, family, humanitarian, philanthropic, educational, sporting or cultural causes or for the protection of animals or the environment
  • The lottery is organized in a small circle (members of the association, relatives, friends). The repeated holding of lotteries in a room provided for this purpose shall not be considered as a restricted circle. The same applies to the organization of a transport system to the place where the game takes place
  • The bets are of low value and less than €20
  • The lots offered to participants cannot be money, and are not refundable. However, this may involve the delivery of non-refundable vouchers. The market value in lots offered to participants is not limited.

If these conditions are not met, the lottery is prohibited.

A non-profit organization whose management is selfless is exempt from commercial tax on sums collected, for its exclusive benefit, during charitable or support events. This up to 6 events per year. 

Lotteries and raffles are among the tax-exempt charity events. Amounts collected are exempt regardless of their amount. The exemption relates to business tax, the VAT: titleContent and the territorial economic contribution (TEC).

As part of these 6 events, the association:

  • Exempt from filing the application for exemption of the six charitable events. It is still obliged to apply for organizational authorizations in the case of permanent or temporary drinking establishments (declaration no later than 24 hours before the event by means of a single letter to the company Tax Office (SIE) of its head office)
  • Must send, if the EIS so requests, the financial result of the events (proof of revenue and expenditure)
Who shall I contact

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