What is a charity lottery?
A plain-English guide to how charity lotteries work in New Zealand, who can run one, the rules they follow, and how to tell a legitimate draw from something that isn't.
Charity lotteries in New Zealand are legal fundraising games run by non-profit societies to raise money for authorised community and charitable purposes.
Popular New Zealand charity lotteries
- Heart Foundation Lottery: offers major prizes like fully furnished Jennian homes and travel packages, with proceeds funding heart research, education, prevention and care.
- Coastguard Lotteries: regularly features high-value car, boat and travel prize packages, such as Audi vehicles, to fund volunteer marine search and rescue.
- SPCA Lottery: raises money to rescue, care for and rehome sick, injured and abused animals across Aotearoa.
- Northern Rescue Helicopter Extreme Lottery: offers high-end boat and vehicle packages to support emergency air ambulance and search and rescue services.
See every current, verified draw in our NZ Charity Lottery Directory.
Rules and regulations
- Online sales: since 1 November 2024, licensed Class 3 charity lotteries can permanently sell tickets and take payment online, not just by post or in person. More on buying online ↓ (Source: NZ Government)
- Licensing (Class 3): any raffle or lottery where the total retail value of all prizes is more than $5,000 needs a Class 3 licence from the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA). When you need a licence ↓ The four classes ↓ (Source: DIA)
- Prize and cost rules: prizes must be worth at least 20% of the value of tickets sold, and running costs must be kept to a minimum so the most money goes back to the community. Prize, ticket and audit rules ↓ (Source: DIA)
Lotteries, raffles, giveaways and scams: what's the difference in NZ?
Every week, New Zealanders are asked to buy a raffle ticket, enter a giveaway, or "go in the draw" for something. Most of these are completely legitimate. Some aren't, and they can look almost identical from the outside.
This guide explains how lotteries, raffles, sales promotions and prize competitions actually work under New Zealand law: who's allowed to run them, what a licence involves, and how to tell a legitimate charity lottery from something that isn't.
It's based on guidance from the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA), which regulates gambling in New Zealand, along with the Gambling Act 2003 and other official sources. Where something isn't clearly spelled out in public guidance, we say so rather than guess.
The short answer
A lottery or raffle is a form of gambling: you pay for a ticket, and winners are chosen by chance. In New Zealand these are regulated under the Gambling Act 2003, mainly by the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA). Small ones can run with no licence at all, but anything with prizes worth more than $5,000 needs a Class 3 gambling licence, can only be run by a society (which includes registered charities and incorporated societies), and must exist to raise money for a genuine community or charitable purpose.
A sales promotion or giveaway run by a business is legally different. It's tied to buying a normal product or service at the normal price, and done correctly, doesn't need a gambling licence at all.
If you're paying specifically for a ticket or entry, it's gambling and needs to follow gambling law. If you're buying a product you'd buy anyway and get entered as a bonus, it's a sales promotion.
Who can run a lottery in New Zealand?
This depends on the size of the prize pool:
Small-scale (Class 1): individuals or societies can run these, as long as the total turnover and prizes are $500 or less.
Class 2: only societies (not individuals), such as sports clubs, community groups and charitable trusts, where prizes are between $500 and $5,000.
Class 3 (anything bigger): only a society can run it: an incorporated society, a registered charitable trust, or a similar body, not an individual and not an ordinary company. It must be licensed by DIA, and the money raised has to go to an "authorised purpose," meaning broadly something charitable or of benefit to the community, not private profit.
There's no such thing as a for-profit company simply deciding to run a public lottery for its own benefit. Larger lotteries exist as fundraising tools for societies and charities, or are run by New Zealand's state lottery operator (Lotto NZ), which sits outside this class system entirely.
What's a lottery, exactly?
Under DIA's game rules, a lottery is a form of gambling where participants buy a ticket or similar proof of entry, winners are chosen by a draw that happens after everyone has entered, and prizes are distributed according to that draw. Raffles and sweepstakes are both examples of lottery games, so in everyday language "raffle" and "lottery" usually mean the same legal thing, just at different scales. There's no separate "raffle law": same classes, same thresholds, same rules.
The four classes of gambling
New Zealand's Gambling Act sorts gambling into four classes, based on how much money is involved and how much harm risk it carries. Classes 1–3 cover most lotteries, raffles, prize competitions and instant games. Class 4 is a separate category for gaming machines (pokies) and isn't directly relevant to charity lotteries.
| Class | Prize value | Turnover | Who can run it | Licence needed? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Class 1 | Up to $500 | Up to $500 | Individuals or societies | No |
| Class 2 | $500–$5,000 | $500–$25,000 | Societies only | No |
| Class 3 | Over $5,000 | No upper limit | Societies only, authorised purpose | Yes, Class 3 licence |
| Class 4 | N/A (gaming machines) | High-turnover | Licensed corporate societies | Yes, separate regime |
A few extra rules worth knowing: for Class 1 run by an individual, all proceeds (minus reasonable costs) must go to the winners. For Class 2 and 3, net proceeds must go to an authorised purpose, not to an individual or business. No commission can be paid to anyone for running Class 1 or 2 gambling. And since 1 November 2024, licensed Class 3 lotteries can be run and sold entirely online. This was a temporary COVID-era rule that's now permanent.
When do you need a licence?
You need a Class 3 licence from DIA if the total prize value for a single draw is more than $5,000, or turnover exceeds $25,000. Below that, you can run under Class 1 or 2 with no licence, but you still have to follow the Gambling Act and the relevant game rules.
A Class 3 licence is generally issued per lottery, not as an ongoing blanket approval (housie, the legal term for bingo-style gambling, is the one exception, licensed annually). A charity running a new lottery every few months is applying, and being checked, every single time. DIA has to be satisfied the activity is financially viable, that costs are kept reasonable, and that returns to the community are maximised.
Sales promotions, giveaways and competitions: the business version
This is where a lot of confusion happens, because a shop's "buy this, go in the draw" promotion can look identical to a charity raffle from the outside. Legally, they're a different thing entirely.
A sales promotion scheme is run by a business to promote its own products or services, entered by buying that product or service at its normal price with no extra fee, decided by chance (or partly chance, partly skill), and run for a clearly stated period with the draw details made clear at the point of sale.
Done this way, a sales promotion doesn't need a gambling licence, per DIA Fact Sheet 9. But there are real limits: the business can't make extra commercial gain beyond its normal trading, the prize can't be a prohibited item, and a sales promotion generally can't be run over the internet or by phone/text unless it's structured as a lottery. Otherwise it falls foul of New Zealand's ban on "remote interactive gambling."
A skill-based competition (like a photo contest judged on merit) generally isn't gambling at all, and doesn't need a licence, but only if the outcome is genuinely decided by skill or judging, not disguised chance.
In mid-2026, DIA opened an inquiry into a "Key to Communities" sales promotion run by NZ Rescue Charitable Trust, offering entry into a draw for Shelby GT350 vehicles with the purchase of a keyring, in support of a Matamata hospital fundraiser. The promotion was paused while the inquiry continues, and reporting from the Waikato Times and Stuff describes customers who bought keyrings having difficulty securing the refunds they were told they'd receive. Nothing has been proven unlawful at this stage, and this page will be updated if the outcome changes that. It's a useful live illustration of the online-promotion boundary rule above, and a reminder to keep half an eye on a promotion even after you've entered, not just before.
Comparison table: how these all differ
| Charity lottery / raffle | Sales promotion | Skill competition | Social giveaway | Scam / suspicious draw | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Who runs it | A society, charity or incorporated group | A business, promoting its own goods/services | Anyone, judged on merit | Anyone, often unclear | Unknown or unregistered entity |
| How you enter | Buy a ticket, specifically to be in the draw | Buy the normal product, no extra fee | Submit an entry, judged | Follow/like/comment, or buy a product | Pay a "fee," share bank details, or buy a ticket |
| Regulated by | Gambling Act, DIA licensed over $5,000 | Gambling Act, Fact Sheet 9, usually no licence | Usually not gambling law; Fair Trading Act applies | Fair Trading Act, platform rules | Nothing, that's the problem |
| Money goes to | An authorised charitable/community purpose | The business's normal trading | The organiser | The organiser/brand | Unknown |
| Transparency | Licence number, draw date, audited prize statement | Clear terms at point of sale | Clear entry/judging terms | Should have clear terms; often thin | Vague, urgent, unverifiable |
Records, prize rules, ticket rules, age rules and transparency
For a licensed Class 3 lottery, the rules are detailed and specific:
Tickets must be individually numbered and act as a receipt: a ticket is the only valid way to enter, and the only valid way to win. Draw details, meaning date, time and location, must be publicly notified in advance if tickets are sold to the public, and the draw itself must be open to the public. Prizes must be given to winners within three months of the draw. Prohibited prizes include firearms, alcohol, tobacco, taonga tūturu, and vouchers for commercial sexual services.
By law, at least 20% of a Class 3 lottery's gross potential income must go back out as prizes to winners. It's one of the simplest sniff tests available: if the prizes on offer look thin next to what a lottery is charging for tickets and how many it's selling, that's a legitimate reason to look closer before you buy.
Not a fixed percentage, for Class 3 lotteries specifically, but the structure of the rules matters more than any single number: no one is allowed to make a private profit from a charity lottery. Ticket sales can cover reasonable running costs and pay out prizes (at least 20%, as above), and whatever is left over has to go to the charity's authorised purpose. There's no leftover category for "profit" to sit in and go anywhere else. DIA licenses each lottery on that basis, requiring costs to be minimised and returns to the community maximised, assessed case by case rather than against a set percentage. This is different from Class 4 gaming machines (pokies), where societies must return at least 40% of net proceeds to the community, but that's a separate category of gambling and doesn't apply to charity lotteries or raffles.
Auditing: the society must provide an independently audited Audit and Prize Statement within three months of the draw, prepared by a chartered accountant not otherwise associated with the lottery. Draw supervision: the draw must be supervised by an independent person able to take a statutory declaration.
There is an 18+ ticket-sale offence in the Gambling Act, but it's easy to misread how far it reaches. Section 301 makes it an offence to sell a ticket to someone under 18, but only for New Zealand Lotteries Commission games: Lotto, Bullseye, Play 3, Keno and similar official state-run games. It doesn't apply to Class 3 society lotteries and raffles, the kind covered throughout this page. Neither DIA's Lottery Game Rules nor the Class 3 provisions of the Act set a statutory minimum age for that category, so individual operators set their own policy. Most choose 18 as good harm-minimisation practice, but you'll occasionally see a lower age (16, for instance) on a legitimately licensed Class 3 lottery, and that isn't automatically a red flag. If you need a firm answer for a specific case, confirm directly with DIA's Gambling Compliance Group rather than assuming a figure.
How legitimate charity lotteries differ from scams
New Zealand has real, well-documented examples at both ends of this spectrum.
A real illegal lottery: in 2026, Christchurch man Waiariki McIlroy-Jones was sentenced to six months' community detention for running what DIA described as the largest illegal lottery ever identified in New Zealand, an unlicensed online model that had generated more than $11 million in a little over a year by dressing itself up as a "sales promotion scheme." DIA has warned that illegal gambling can be made to look like a legitimate promotion, particularly when it leans on big-ticket prizes and urgency.
A real cautionary case in between: in 2024, a newly formed trust ran a high-profile "Win a House" raffle for a $2 million-plus home, advertised on billboards, TV and radio. It described its charity registration as "pending," a status DIA confirmed doesn't actually exist under the Charities Act. The raffle ultimately didn't sell enough tickets to buy the house, and ticket holders were refunded. Nothing here was found to be criminal, but it's a clear real-world example of why "sounds impressive" and "is properly set up" aren't the same thing.
A real, long-established example: Coastguard New Zealand's lottery publishes its DIA licence number, the authorised purpose the funds go to, the exact draw location and time, and where results will be published, in every set of terms and conditions. That's what doing it properly, in public, looks like.
The pattern that separates legitimate operators from scams isn't the size of the prize. It's whether the organisation can show its licence number, its registered charity status, a fixed draw date and place, and a clear, published way to check the result.
Coastguard is one of several NZ charity lotteries we've already run through this exact checklist. See our Lottery Directory for the current list of verified draws.
Checklist: how to check if a lottery or raffle is legitimate
Before you buy a ticket, spend two minutes checking:
If you're ever unsure, you can contact DIA's Gambling Compliance Group directly, or check the charity on the Charities Register before entering.
What charities should think about before running a raffle or lottery
FAQs
Sources
- Department of Internal Affairs: Gambling
- DIA: Classes of Gambling
- DIA: The Rules for Running a Gambling Activity
- DIA: Lottery Game Rules
- DIA Fact Sheet 9: Sales Promotions
- DIA: Class 3 Lottery Licence Rule Changes
- Charities Services: The Charities Register
- RNZ: Charity behind 'Win A House' promotion not yet registered (2024)
- RNZ: Man behind New Zealand's biggest illegal lottery sentenced (2026)
- Gambling Act 2003, Section 301: age restrictions on Lotteries Commission games
- Stuff: Customers chase refunds after NZ Rescue scraps luxury car promotion amid DIA investigation (2026)
- Waikato Times: Internal Affairs puts brakes on Matamata muscle car fundraiser (2026)
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