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Why most charities don't need to "make" raffle tickets anymore
In 2026, "how do I make raffle tickets?" is mostly the wrong question. The real one is: "do I even need to design and print paper tickets?"
For most UK charities, no. Your raffle platform should auto-generate a numbered e-ticket with a unique QR code and the buyer's details the moment someone purchases, then email it to them automatically.
Paper-and-Canva is a legitimate fallback for incidental non-commercial lotteries drawn entirely at an event (a fete, a quiz night, a gala dinner) where physical stubs are practical. It is not the default workflow, and it is not what should anchor a 2026 how-to guide.
In the UK, your raffle is legally a "lottery" under the Gambling Act 2005. Most charity raffles fall into one of two categories:
Small society lottery: register with your local council (£40 initial registration, £20 annual renewal), then sell tickets online, on paper, by telephone, or face to face. Maximum ticket sales per single draw: £20,000. Annual aggregate cap: £250,000. At least 20% of proceeds must go to your cause. Maximum single prize: £25,000. Minimum participant age: 16. (Gambling Commission guidance)
Incidental non-commercial lottery: tickets sold and the draw conducted entirely at an event you are running. No registration required. Typical for school fete raffles, dinner prize draws, and village hall events.
Anything above the small society lottery caps requires an operating licence from the Gambling Commission. Most small-to-mid charities will never reach those thresholds.
So this guide is structured around three paths:
The modern default: numbered e-tickets, generated automatically by your raffle platform. Legal for small society lotteries, and the Gambling Commission expressly permits online ticket sales.
The event fallback: paper tickets for incidental non-commercial lotteries drawn on the day, or for in-person sales at events where physical stubs are more practical.
The compliance layer: UK Gambling Act requirements, which decide whether you need path one, path two, or both.
Here is what the modern flow looks like on Zeffy. You build the raffle form once, and every ticket is generated for you.
1.Create your free raffle form. Sign up for a free Zeffy account and create a new raffle form. Add your prize description, your charity's name, the draw date, and your ticket prices (single tickets and bundles, for example 1 for £5 or 3 for £10). The form is your raffle's home page, where supporters land to purchase.
2.Enable numbered tickets. Zeffy handles the numbering automatically, eliminating spreadsheet juggling and the risk of duplicate numbers. Each ticket also gets a unique QR code, which makes draw-day scanning and tracking simple. Online raffles for UK charities must also comply with the Fundraising Regulator's Code of Fundraising Practice (Section 9, in force 1 November 2025, covers online platforms).
3.Customise the form, not the ticket. On Zeffy, customisation happens at the form level: you set colours, upload your logo, add prize images, and write the prize copy. The individual e-tickets are generated automatically in a consistent format. You are not dragging fonts onto a ticket; you are styling the page that sells them.
4.Share the form and let tickets generate. Share your raffle form link by email, on social media, or as a QR code on a flyer at an event. Every time someone buys, Zeffy emails them a numbered e-ticket with their unique number, QR code, and buyer details. You see real-time sales in your dashboard.
5.Sell in person too, if you want. If you also want to sell at an event, in a village hall, or door to door, you can sell tickets in person with Tap to Pay, no terminal needed. Tap a supporter's card or phone to your iPhone or Android, and the same numbered e-ticket gets emailed to them on the spot. This matters in 2026: as one UK charity treasurer put it, "people are not carrying around cash like they used to." Card payments at fetes and quiz nights close the gap. Note that small society lotteries cannot have tickets sold in a street or shopping-centre passage. Door to door, online, by telephone, and at an event are all permitted; pavement sales are not. (Gambling Commission guidance)
You skip the printer, the scissors, and the lost-ticket conversations on draw day.
How to make raffle tickets with numbers
The most common version of this question is "how to make raffle tickets with numbers." There are three real answers in 2026, in order of how much work they cost you.
1. Let your platform number them for you (default)
Zeffy auto-generates a unique number on every e-ticket. There are no spreadsheets to maintain, no mail merge to run, and no risk of two supporters receiving the same number. If your raffle is a registered small society lottery, digital tickets are fully permitted by the Gambling Commission. This is the answer for most UK charities.
2. Word mail merge with a number sequence (paper fallback)
If you are running an incidental non-commercial lottery at an event and want physical stubs, the cheapest DIY path is Microsoft Word's mail merge feature paired with an Excel column of sequential numbers (1, 2, 3, up to however many you need). Design one ticket layout in Word, merge in the number column, and print on perforated stock or a standard sheet you cut down. Plan for an hour of setup and a printer that does not jam.
3. Canva's bulk-create feature (paper fallback)
Canva's bulk-create feature lets you upload a CSV of ticket numbers and generate a Canva design per number in one batch. It is more visual than Word and easier if you want a designed ticket, but the bulk-create feature is on Canva's paid tier. Useful for a one-off large raffle; not worth it if you are running raffles regularly.
How to print raffle tickets (if you have to)
If you are running an event-based raffle and want physical tickets, print on perforated raffle ticket stock (most office supply stores carry it) or on standard cardstock that you cut down. Two practical notes:
Size: approximately 50 x 140 mm and 50 x 180 mm are common in practice (roughly equivalent to 2 x 5.5 inches and 2 x 7 inches). There is no UK legal mandate on size. Whatever you choose, make sure it fits standard ticket-holder bowls if you are drawing in person.
Numbering: print sequentially, not randomly, so you can confirm no numbers were skipped or duplicated.
One trap to avoid: small society lotteries cannot have tickets sold in a street, including passages through shopping centres. Door to door, online, by telephone, and at an event are all permitted; pavement sales are not. (Gambling Commission guidance)
If you want a hybrid approach (physical tickets at the event, online sales at other times), you can run the online form on Zeffy and use printed tickets only on the day.
The four real methods UK charities use in 2026, side by side.
Method
Cost
Time to set up
Numbered automatically?
Best for
Online raffle platform (e.g. Zeffy)
Free
Under 30 minutes
Yes, with unique QR code
Small society lotteries selling online or in person; charities that want to consolidate their raffle, ticketing, and donor management in one free tool
Word mail merge
Free (requires Microsoft 365)
1 to 2 hours
Yes, via number column
Incidental non-commercial lotteries at events; charities that need physical stubs and have no design budget
Canva bulk-create
Free tier limited; paid plan required for bulk-create
1 to 3 hours
Yes, via CSV upload
One-off large raffles where a designed physical ticket matters; not ideal for regular use
Print shop
Variable; typically £30 to £100+ per run
Days (lead time)
Yes
Large-scale events where professional card stock is essential; the highest-quality option, and the highest cost
Recommendation for UK charities: start with an online platform unless your raffle is an incidental lottery drawn entirely at an event. Free, automatic numbering and emailed e-tickets remove the operational drag that makes most raffle organisers dread the next one. If you do need physical tickets for an event, layer Word mail merge or Canva on top, and keep the online form for any sales you can do digitally. A UK charity currently paying for JustGiving donations, Ticket Tailor event tickets, and a separate spreadsheet for Gift Aid tracking can consolidate all of that into Zeffy for free.
Exact requirements depend on your lottery type, so the most important step is to check the Gambling Commission's guidance on small society lotteries before you sell a single ticket. The checklist below covers what the Gambling Commission requires for a small society lottery ticket. If your raffle platform handles the digital ticket for you, most of these fields populate automatically from your form.
Name of the promoting society (your registered charity's full legal name)
Ticket price (the price must be the same for every ticket in the lottery)
Name and address of the lottery organiser (a named member of the society) or the name and address of your External Lottery Manager if you have appointed one
Date of the draw, or information enabling the draw date to be determined
Your local council registration number for the small society lottery, where applicable
A statement that participants must be aged 16 or over (the minimum age for UK small society lotteries)
A note on Gift Aid: Gift Aid does not apply to raffle ticket purchases. When a supporter buys a ticket they receive a benefit (a chance to win a prize), which means the purchase falls outside Gift Aid rules. If you collect a separate, voluntary donation alongside the raffle entry, Gift Aid can apply to that donation only. Collect it separately with its own Gift Aid declaration. (GOV.UK Gift Aid guidance)
For pricing your tickets, use the formula (fundraising target plus costs) divided by the number of tickets to find a price that works. Most UK charity raffles price tickets between £1 and £10.
The easiest route is to use an online raffle platform. Zeffy automatically assigns a unique number and QR code to every e-ticket the moment a supporter purchases. There are no spreadsheets to maintain and no risk of duplicate numbers.
If you need physical tickets (for an incidental non-commercial lottery drawn at an event), use Microsoft Word's mail merge feature with a sequential number column, or Canva's bulk-create feature with a CSV upload. Both generate one ticket per number in a single batch. Print on perforated raffle ticket stock or standard cardstock cut to size.
Yes. On Zeffy, creating and running a charity raffle is completely free. There is no platform fee, no transaction fee, and no credit card fee, ever. Zeffy is 100% free for charities and keeps nothing from your proceeds.
For paper tickets, Word mail merge is free if you have Microsoft 365. Canva's bulk-create feature requires a paid Canva plan.
Print on perforated raffle ticket stock (available at most office supply shops) or on standard cardstock that you cut down. Common sizes are approximately 50 x 140 mm or 50 x 180 mm. Number them sequentially so you can confirm no numbers were skipped or duplicated.
If you are running a small society lottery, remember that tickets cannot be sold in a street or shopping-centre passage. Sales door to door, online, by telephone, and at an event are all permitted under Gambling Commission rules.
common rule of thumb is to price your ticket run so that selling three to five times the retail value of the prize covers your fundraising target. For example, if your prize is worth £200 and your target is £500, pricing tickets at £2 each and printing 300 would give you £600 at full sales.
For online raffles you do not need to decide on a fixed print run in advance. Zeffy tracks sales in real time and you close the raffle on your chosen draw date.
There is no UK legal requirement on raffle ticket size. Approximately 50 x 140 mm (similar to 2 x 5.5 inches) and 50 x 180 mm (similar to 2 x 7 inches) are practical sizes that fit standard ticket-holder bowls for in-person draws. If you are printing stubs, make sure the detachable portion is large enough to write a name and number clearly.
For digital e-tickets, size is not relevant: the ticket is emailed as a formatted document with a QR code.
For most UK charity raffles, yes. If your raffle is a small society lottery (the most common type for registered charities and not-for-profit organisations), you must register with your local licensing authority (your council) before selling any tickets. The registration fee is £40 for the first year and £20 for annual renewal.
The exception is an incidental non-commercial lottery: if you sell tickets and draw the winner entirely at an event you are running (a fete, a dinner, a quiz night), no registration is required.
For lotteries with ticket sales above £20,000 in a single draw, or above £250,000 in a year, you would need an operating licence from the Gambling Commission. Most small charities will not reach these thresholds.
Note the spelling: in UK English, a licence is the noun (the document you hold) and license is the verb (to be licensed). Your local council registers your lottery; you hold a lottery licence.
Share your raffle form link by email and social media, and let supporters spread the word. Sell in person at events with Tap to Pay (no terminal needed). For a small society lottery, you can also sell door to door and by telephone.
One channel to avoid: tickets for a small society lottery cannot be sold in a street or shopping-centre passage. Online, door to door, by telephone, and at events are all permitted.
To read more about selling strategy, see the Gambling Commission's guidance on small society lotteries.
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Nonprofit guides
How to Sell Raffle Tickets for Charity in the UK (2026 Guide)
Everything a UK charity, PTA, village hall, or community group needs to run a raffle in 2026: how to price tickets, where to sell them, how to comply with UK small society lottery law under the Gambling Act 2005, and how to keep 100% of every pound you raise on the only 100% free raffle platform built for charities.
How to Price Raffle Tickets for Your Charity in 2026
A practical guide for UK charities on how to price raffle tickets. Covers the pricing formula, £-denominated price bands, small society lottery rules under the Gambling Act 2005, why Gift Aid does not apply to raffle ticket sales, and six tips for boosting ticket sales. Includes a step-by-step 50/50 draw calculator and advice on common pricing mistakes to avoid.
How to run an online raffle for your charity in 2026 (UK guide)
Raffles are one of the quickest ways for UK charities, PTAs, village halls and community groups to raise funds. This step-by-step guide covers the legal framework under the Gambling Act 2005, how to register a small society lottery with your local council, what must appear on your tickets, and how to promote and close your raffle correctly, all in plain English, with links to the relevant Gambling Commission and HMRC guidance.
Look for people who attend related events, follow relevant Facebook groups, or subscribe to aligned newsletters.These aren’t just potential donors—they’re your future advocates.
Look for people who attend related events, follow relevant Facebook groups, or subscribe to aligned newsletters.These aren’t just potential donors—they’re your future advocates.
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