How to Run a Bonus Ball Fundraiser for Your Club (UK Guide)

If you want a fundraiser that runs every single week, takes minutes to manage and needs almost no kit, a bonus ball is hard to beat. Members pick a number, pay a small weekly stake, and whoever holds the number that matches a published draw wins a cash prize — with the rest going to your club. The catch most committees miss is that a bonus ball is legally a lottery, so it needs to be run properly. The simplest way to do that today is a compliant digital platform like Play Fund Win, which handles the draw, the payments and the record-keeping for you. But whether you run it on paper or online, here's how to do it well.

What a bonus ball actually is

The idea is deliberately simple. You sell a fixed set of numbers — traditionally 1 to 49, matching the National Lottery ball range, though you can use any range you like. Each number is bought by one member for a set weekly amount, say £1 or £2. Each week a winning number is drawn, and the person holding it takes a prize; everything left over stays with the club.

Most clubs tie their winning number to an existing public draw — for example the bonus ball from a National Lottery draw on a set night — because it's transparent and impossible to fix. Others run their own random draw. Either works, as long as it's genuinely random and everyone can see the result.

The maths that makes it work

The appeal for treasurers is the steady, predictable income. If you sell 49 numbers at £2 a week, that's £98 in weekly, with perhaps £50 going to the winner and the rest to the club — week after week, all season. Over a year even a modest bonus ball can raise a meaningful four-figure sum without a single event to organise.

A few things keep it healthy:

• Fill every number. Empty numbers mean lost income and a slightly awkward draw. Aim to sell the full range before you start.
• Keep the stake low. £1–£2 a week feels painless and keeps people in for the long haul.
• Make the prize attractive but sensible. A prize that's too big eats your margin; too small and interest fades. Somewhere around half the weekly is a common split.
• Collect in advance. Chasing weekly cash is the number one reason bonus balls fizzle out.

The bit clubs get wrong: it's a lottery

Because players pay to enter and win by chance, a bonus ball is a lottery under the Gambling Act 2005 — and that means rules apply. The good news is there's usually a straightforward route to staying compliant.

If your draw is kept entirely within your membership — sold only to members, not advertised to the general public — it can often run as a private society lottery, which doesn't need a licence. The moment you start selling to the wider community, friends of friends or online to the public, you move into small society lottery territory. That typically needs to be registered with your local authority (council), and it comes with conditions: a set minimum proportion of proceeds must go to the good cause (at least 20%), you must keep proper records, and you may need to submit returns.

Other sensible ground rules: keep participants to the appropriate minimum age (society lotteries are 16+, and many clubs choose to set 18+), be clear that money raised supports the club, and never describe it in a way that oversells the odds. If any of this feels daunting, it's a strong argument for using a platform that builds the compliance in rather than running loose cash on a clipboard. Always check your specific situation with your local council's licensing team or the Gambling Commission guidance if you're unsure.

Paper vs a digital platform

You can run a bonus ball with a spreadsheet, a numbers grid and an honesty box — plenty of clubs have for decades. But cash collection, no-shows, chasing lapsed players and manually tracking who owns which number quietly eat volunteer hours, and loose cash is the weakest point for compliance and safeguarding.

A digital platform removes most of that friction. Members pay online, numbers are assigned automatically, the draw and winners are recorded, and the money reconciles itself. It also opens your draw up beyond the clubhouse noticeboard — supporters can join from their phone, which is where a modern 50/50 draw or club lottery often out-earns a traditional bonus ball while staying just as simple to run.

Getting started

Start small: pick your number range, set a low weekly stake, agree your prize split, and decide how you'll draw the winning number. Sell the numbers, publish the result every week without fail, and be transparent about how much the club is raising. Consistency is what turns a bonus ball into real money over a season.

If you'd rather skip the clipboard entirely, Play Fund Win lets UK clubs and charities run compliant digital prize draws, 50/50s and lotteries — there's nothing to pay up front, it takes about ten minutes, and your club keeps its share of every ticket sold. Take a look at playfundwin.com to get your weekly draw up and running.