Running a Tombola or Bingo Night for Charity: A Practical UK Guide

Tombolas and charity bingo are fixtures of community fundraising in the UK for good reason: they are simple to run, inclusive across age groups, and reliably enjoyable. A practical guide to setting up and running both activities at a charity event, covering the legal framework, logistics, and tips from experienced organisers.

Ask the volunteers at most community fundraising events what has worked consistently over many years and the tombola will come up almost every time. It requires minimal equipment, can be set up in minutes, generates a steady stream of income throughout an event rather than a single lump sum at the end, and it gives something back to participants in the form of an immediate prize, however small. Bingo nights operate on a similar principle but at greater scale and with more opportunity for atmosphere, showmanship, and the particular communal excitement of being one number away from a full house.

Both activities fall under UK gambling legislation, which means there are legal requirements to understand before setting them up. Neither is difficult to comply with, but getting the basics right protects the organiser, the charity, and the participants.

Tombola: the legal framework

A tombola run as part of a community or charity event is treated under the Gambling Act 2005 as an “incidental non-commercial lottery”, provided it meets certain conditions. The lottery must be incidental to a non-commercial event (meaning the event as a whole is not run for private profit). All the proceeds, after deduction of reasonable expenses, must go to the charitable cause. No rollover of prizes from one draw to another is permitted. Tickets must be sold only at the event itself, not in advance or remotely.

Provided these conditions are met, no licence is required for the tombola, and the event organiser does not need to register with the Gambling Commission. This makes the incidental lottery one of the most accessible fundraising tools available to community groups. If you are planning a tombola for a charity event and all ticket sales will take place on the day, at the venue, you are almost certainly operating within this framework.

The main restriction that catches organisers out is the rule about ticket sales. If you plan to sell tickets in advance — for example, to people who cannot attend the event in person — the tombola moves out of the incidental lottery category and into the small society lottery category, which requires registration with your local authority. The process is not onerous, but it takes time and costs a small registration fee, so it is worth understanding which category applies to your situation before the event.

Running the tombola: practical logistics

The physical setup for a tombola is simple. You need a drum or container from which tickets can be drawn, a table for displaying prizes, a float for giving change, and a sufficient stock of numbered tickets sold in strips. The classic tombola format uses double-sided stubs: one half goes into the drum, one half stays with the buyer. Prizes are numbered to match the ticket numbers, and when a number is drawn it wins the corresponding prize.

The prizes themselves require some thought. The most effective tombola prize collections mix a small number of genuinely desirable items with a larger number of smaller prizes. Donated bottles (wine, spirits, olive oil, fruit juice) are perennially popular and easy to source from local businesses and supporters. Boxes of chocolates, gift vouchers for local services, and small hampers work well. Aim to ensure that roughly one in five or one in six tickets wins something, which keeps participation rates high and avoids the disappointment of a tombola where prizes feel impossible to win.

Sourcing prizes through donation is the most cost-effective approach and also generates goodwill with local businesses who appreciate the acknowledgement. A standard letter explaining the event and the cause, sent to businesses in the area a few weeks in advance, typically yields enough donations to stock a tombola comfortably. Keep a record of donors so they can be thanked in any event programme or social media coverage.

Bingo nights: format and planning

A charity bingo night operates on different principles from a tombola. Rather than individual draws throughout an event, bingo is structured as a series of games, each played to a conclusion before the next begins. Participants buy cards (also called tickets or books) in advance of each game, and a caller draws numbers at random and announces them until someone completes the required pattern — a line, two lines, or a full house — and calls out to claim the prize.

The legal framework for charity bingo is covered by the Gambling Act 2005 under the category of “equal chance gaming”, which can be run at unlicensed events provided the event is not run for private profit and all players have an equal chance of winning. The conditions are similar to those for an incidental lottery: the event must be non-commercial in character, and the proceeds must go to the charitable cause. Unlike a tombola, bingo does not require tickets to be sold only at the venue on the day, but the other conditions still apply.

Running a bingo night: what makes it work

The atmosphere of a bingo night depends heavily on the caller. A good caller keeps the pace up, uses the traditional calls where relevant (“two fat ladies, eighty-eight”, “legs eleven”, and so on), engages the room with humour, and manages the tension of the final few numbers of each game with showmanship. If your regular team does not include someone with this natural gift, consider asking around: most communities have at least one person who thrives in this role, and they are usually easy to persuade for a good cause.

The number of games you run will depend on the length of the event and the appetite of your audience. Six to eight games over an evening is a typical format, with a short break partway through. Prize values should escalate across the evening, with the most desirable prizes going to the later games and particularly to the full house in the final game. This gives people a reason to stay for the whole event and builds anticipation through the evening.

Pricing the cards requires some thought. Cards that are too cheap leave money on the table; cards that are too expensive put people off. In a community event context, £1 per card or £5 for a book of six cards are common price points that most attendees consider reasonable. If you are running multiple games, consider selling a “full evening” book that covers one card per game at a slight discount; this simplifies sales and ensures that players stay engaged throughout.

Combining tombola and bingo at the same event

The two activities complement each other well at events that last two hours or more. A tombola drum running continuously throughout the event provides steady income and keeps people who are not in a bingo game occupied; the bingo games provide structured focal points that bring everyone together several times during the evening. The combination also accommodates different preferences: some people enjoy the social structure of the bingo game, while others prefer the simple transaction of buying a tombola ticket and checking immediately whether they have won.

The key to running both successfully at the same event is having enough volunteers. You will need dedicated staff on the tombola table throughout the event, a separate team for bingo card sales and prize distribution, and a caller who can give the bingo games their full attention. Briefing all volunteers before the event, making sure everyone understands both the legal requirements and the practical arrangements, takes perhaps half an hour and saves considerable confusion on the night.