Society Lottery, Bingo or Race Night Licences
If you wish to apply to run a race night, a bingo event or a lottery for your club or society, this page will provide you with everything you need to know to make your application.
Return to Licensing home page-
Guidance documents for making an application
Use these guidance notes to assist you with any questions you may have about running your local event
- Registration and Return Forms
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Legislation relevant to running a society lottery, bingo event or a race night
Gaming, Betting and Lotteries (Amendment) Act 2001
The Gaming, Betting and Lotteries Act 1988 (GBLA) and the Gaming, Betting and Lotteries (Amendment) Act 2001 regulate land-based betting and bookmaking and amusements with prizes and sets out legal requirements and restrictions relating to:
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Lotteries.
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Betting (including at racecourses).
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Bookmaking.
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Amusements with prizes (AWP).
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Totalisator (that is, a computer that registers bets and divides the total amount of the bet among those who won).
The GBLA permits gaming, which is defined in the GBLA as “the playing of a game of chance for winnings in money or money’s worth, whether or not any person playing the game is at risk of losing any money or money’s worth”, subject to certain prohibitions set out therein.
In order to use premises as a betting office in the Isle of Man, the premises will need to be licensed as a betting office and the person using the premises needs to be licensed as a bookmaker.
It is an offence to use non-licensed premises for betting or to operate as a bookmaker without a permit under the GBLA.
No licence is required under the GBLA for betting transactions that are authorised by a licence under OGRA and carried out in accordance with the provisions of the GBLA and the terms of the licence (other than the negotiating or receiving of any bet from a person in the Island by means of an electronic communication).
The GBLA also gives power to make regulations, which include:
which prescribes the conditions to be complied with where bingo is played as part of a fund-raising event.
which prescribes the conditions to be complied with by a lottery forming part of a fund-raising event.
which provides how a registered charity (as defined) may advertise its fundraising lotteries.
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