Run a proper paper raffle in six steps
- 1. Set it up (5 minutes)
Your group, what the money's for, prizes and their retail value, ticket price, dates and where the draw happens. We check the key NZ raffle limits as you type and show you the ticket.
- 2. Create books
Books of 25, 50 or 100 tickets, each a different colour, numbered on from the last. Your details lock at this point, because they're printed.
- 3. Print
Download A4 PDFs (3, 5 or 10 tickets a page, plus a sellers’ card) and cut on the dashed lines, or send the PDF to a printer.
- 4. Hand out books
Record who has which book. Sellers write each buyer's name and phone on the butt. Selling is in person only, and our rule is a numbered paper ticket for every buyer.
- 5. Record returns
Type in the unsold numbers and the money handed in. Sellers can scan the SELLER code on each butt to save the buyer’s details as they sell. Buyers can scan the code on their ticket to add their own, but can’t change details already saved.
- 6. Draw in public
On the night, project the draw screen. It locks the sold tickets and draws only from them. The results page lets anyone check the draw was fair.
See the result before you sign up: sample club tickets, tickets with donated prizes and a poster (PDFs, made-up groups).
The rules, in plain English
- Up to $500 of prizes and $500 of tickets: Class 1. Anyone can run it.
- Up to $5,000 of prizes and $25,000 of tickets printed: Class 2. It must be run by a club, school, PTA, charity or other non-commercial group. No licence needed.
- Over $5,000 of prizes: needs a DIA licence. Not supported here.
- The ticket limit is worked out on tickets printed × the single-ticket price. Deals like "3 for $5" don't let you print more.
- Prizes must be worth at least 20% of all the tickets printed. A $500 prize allows up to $2,500 of tickets, which is 1,250 tickets at $2.
- Sell in person only. The law doesn't allow Class 1 or 2 tickets to be sold in comments, by message, phone or online. That's only for licensed Class 3 raffles. Post about it on Facebook as much as you like. Our safe practice, and a condition of using this tool: give every buyer a numbered paper ticket, face to face.
- No alcohol, tobacco, vapes or firearms as prizes.
- Sold out? Don't print more. The ticket limit is fixed by your prizes. To raise more, add prizes before you create books, or once this raffle is drawn start a new, separate raffle here (new prize, new ticket numbers, new draw). Don't run two raffles at once as one raffle split in two, and don't use back-to-back raffles to get round the session limits (a society can run only one Class 1 session a day). Check with DIA before you start another.
- Draw within 14 days of sales closing (and within 3 months of sales starting), in public, and publish results within a week.
Official rules: Classes of gambling · Lottery game rules (DIA).
Printing your tickets
You don’t have to print everything at once. Create books in batches (say 10 books of 25) and download them as PDFs, up to 1,000 tickets per file. Each book has its own number range and colour, and you can reprint any single book from its page.
| Option | Cost for 500 tickets | Cost for 1,000 tickets | What you do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Print it yourself (office or home laser) | about $10–20 | about $20–40 | Print on A4 (3, 5 or 10 tickets a page), cut on the dashed lines with a guillotine or scissors, and staple each book. A few volunteers and an hour or two. |
| Print shop (prints your PDF) | about $25–70 + cutting | about $50–130 + cutting | Copy shops print the PDF. Most charge extra to guillotine, and you still staple the books. |
| Raffle ticket printer (numbered, perforated, stapled books) | about $200 | about $300–350 | Ready-made books of 10, couriered to you. Ask whether they can print our PDF as-is, so each ticket keeps its own QR code. |
Prefer paper? Download our book register (Excel, prints on one A4 page) to record who has which book, what came back and the money. The website does the same thing, and also runs the draw.