Oxfam Lottery policies and FAQs

The Oxfam Lottery is a weekly lottery to raise more money to tackle poverty and help people in crisis. Entry costs £1 and there are 100 prizes to be won each week, ranging from £5 to £1000, as well as a twice-yearly bonus draw with a jackpot of £5000.

Oxfam has a lottery as an alternative way of raising vital funds to support our work. The lottery helps us to reach new audiences who may not have considered giving to Oxfam.

The great thing about the Oxfam Lottery is that we're offering our supporters the chance to be a winner while raising money to tackle poverty and help people affected by disasters.

Tickets are available to buy online, through the post, over the phone or in participating Oxfam shops.

The Oxfam Lottery draw takes place every Friday. Tickets cost £1 and will enter players into a weekly draw to win one of the following prizes:

• 1 x first prize of £1000
• 1 x second prize of £100
• 1 x third prize of £50
• 2 x fourth prizes of £25
• 25 prizes of £10
• 70 prizes of £5

There will also be an additional twice-yearly bonus draw with a jackpot of £5000, which anyone who buys a ticket will be automatically entered into.

Every ticket has an equal chance of winning and based on the number of entries on 31st March 2025, there is a roughly one in 69 chance of winning a prize.

All prizes are guaranteed to be won every week, unlike the National Lottery, for example, where there is only a winner if someone has the matching numbers.

If you have a lottery subscription paid for by Direct Debit, you'll be notified by email, phone or post within one week of the draw. All players can also check online to see if they’ve won.

If you bought your ticket in an Oxfam shop, you can also take your ticket into any Oxfam shop to check whether it’s a winning number.

If you have a lottery subscription paid for by Direct Debit, your winnings will be automatically paid into your bank account.

If you purchased your ticket in an Oxfam shop, you can claim wins of £5 and £10 in person by bringing your winning receipt into an Oxfam shop. For larger wins, you can claim your winnings via this online form. Please note that, as stated in the Oxfam Lottery Terms and Conditions, you must claim your winnings within 90 days of the date of the draw.

For subscription-based players, we’ll send your numbers to you as part of your welcome pack. If you buy one-off tickets in an Oxfam shop, your number is printed on the ticket. These numbers are allocated automatically and are unique to you.

Unlike other lotteries where many people have to split prizes as they have the same numbers, in the Oxfam Lottery there is only one winner per prize. If you win £1000, you keep every penny.

You will be entered into a draw for each week of the year, but because some months are longer than others, we split the cost equally across the 12 months of the year.

The cost for one entry per week is £4.34 a month. This way your Direct Debit doesn't change month to month.

To change your Direct Debit details, please phone our helpline on 0370 058 5944.

As an organisation that works to tackle poverty in the UK as well as overseas, we’re extremely committed to making sure we help rather than hinder people who are struggling to make ends meet.

Oxfam operates our lottery in a secure, fair and socially responsible way. We take steps to manage the risk of vulnerable people taking part. For example, we will limit the number of entries per person to a maximum of ten per week, so that’s a maximum of £10 per week that any one player can spend. Players of the Oxfam Lottery must be aged 18 years and over.

Charity lotteries are one of the most rigorously regulated forms of fundraising, and we are independently licensed by the Gambling Commission. Whilst lotteries are a form of gambling, there is little evidence to suggest that charity lotteries cause gambling problems. Charity lotteries are a fun way of donating a small amount to a good cause, and the prizes are usually a secondary consideration, unlike other forms of gambling.

If anyone is particularly worried about their gambling, and would like to be excluded from future raffles and lotteries, please download, complete and return the Oxfam Self Exclusion Form or please call 0370 058 5944.

Should gambling become a problem, we recommend you contact the GambleAware helpline on 0808 8020 133 or visit their website: www.gambleaware.co.uk

Anyone buying a subscription to the Oxfam Lottery will be required to fill in an application form and provide their name and address details.

We have policies and procedures related to cash handling in place, designed to minimise the risk of crime, and we have the right to cancel any applications if we suspect criminal activity.

Oxfam GB, Ground Floor, John Smith Court, John Smith Drive, Oxford Business Park, Oxford, OX4 2JY is the lottery promoter for the Oxfam Lottery.

Responsible persons are Jan Oldfield and Lorna Fallon. The Friday weekly draw is managed by our External Lottery Manager who is licensed by the Gambling Commission.

The Oxfam Lottery (the "Lottery") is licensed by the Gambling Commission under the Gambling Act 2005 under licence number 046163. www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk. All profits raised from the Lottery will go towards the work of Oxfam GB.

If you have a complaint about your membership, please contact our Supporter Care team on 0300 200 1300 or email lottery@oxfam.org.uk

For more information, please download the full Oxfam GB Lottery Complaints Procedure (152KB, PDF)

If you have any other questions about the Oxfam Lottery and your lottery membership, please call our helpline on 0370 058 5944. Calls cost no more than calls to geographic numbers 01 or 02.

Oxfam GB's Gambling Commission Licence.

Oxfam GB Social Responsibility Policy (143KB, DOC)

Oxfam GB Self Exclusion Policy (102KB, PDF)

Self Exclusion Form (52KB, DOC)

Full terms and conditions.