Apply for permission to hold or facilitate a lottery

Prerequisites

• The lottery is only held on the territory of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg.
• The playing capital must not exceed 40,000 euros. The playing capital is calculated from the number of tickets multiplied by the sales price of a ticket. At least 25% of the playing capital must be played in the form of lottery winnings.
• The net income must be used directly for charitable, church or charitable purposes.

Documents required

• Information on the organizer and recipient of the net proceeds (name, address, e-mail, authorized representative)
• Information on cash and non-cash prizes and their approximate value
• Number of lots and lot price in euros
• Costs of the raffle for the organizer

Please note

As a rule, evidence of the use of the net proceeds must be submitted to the Ministry of the Interior and Sport within six weeks of the conclusion of the small lottery. This is possible, for example, by submitting a listing or bank statements.

Deadlines

The application for approval must be submitted at least one week before the event is held.

Procedure

A permit application can be submitted in writing or online.

written process:

• Use and fill out the "Application for Permission for a Small Lottery" form. The application must then be sent to the authority by post or email.
• Upon receipt, a formal review will take place. If the application is incomplete, you will be contacted and asked to correct it.
• After that, the technical examination takes place. The application can be approved, approved with conditions or rejected.

online service

• The online service can be accessed via the Hamburg Service Portal. You must provide all the necessary information on duty and submit the application. This is then automatically sent to the responsible office.
• The remaining steps correspond to the written procedure.

Processing time

Processing usually only takes a few days. It may take longer if the application is incomplete or if questions arise during processing.

Fees

Granting permission to organize a small lottery is free of charge if the organizer is classified as a non-profit organization by the tax office.




In all other cases, a processing fee of 50 euros will be charged for the approval.

Legal basis

Section 18 of the State Treaty on Gambling (GlüStV)

§§ 3, 9, 14 of the Hamburg Act on the Execution of the State Treaty on Gaming 2021 (HmbGlüStVAG)

A permit is required for any event or brokerage of public games of chance in the area of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg within the scope of the State Treaty on Gaming (GlüStV).

The public sale of tickets for raffling off cash or non-cash prizes outside of folk festivals is a game of chance and is therefore fundamentally reserved for the state lottery companies (e.g. Lotto Hamburg, GKL). However, so that others, such as private individuals or clubs, can also generate income for good causes by organizing a raffle, there is the so-called "small lottery" in accordance with Section 18 of the State Treaty on Gambling. Under certain conditions, public lotteries (raffles for cash prizes) or public draws (raffles for prizes in kind or services of monetary value) can be approved as small lotteries.