Connecticut Raffle Laws: Permits, Tickets, and Reporting

Connecticut raffle laws allow only certain nonprofits to run raffles, and every raffle needs a permit from the municipality where the drawing will happen. The rules dictate who qualifies, what class of permit you need based on prize value, what must be printed on tickets, how proceeds can be spent, and what has to be reported afterward. Violations carry fines up to $1,000, up to a year in jail, or both.¹

Who Can Sponsor a Raffle

Sponsorship is limited to specific nonprofit groups: veterans’ organizations, churches and religious groups, civic and service clubs, fraternal societies, educational and charitable organizations, volunteer fire companies, and political parties or their town committees. A municipality can also sponsor a raffle through a committee organized for a centennial or similar anniversary.²

With the exception of a municipal anniversary committee, the sponsoring organization must have been organized in good faith and actively operating as a nonprofit within the municipality issuing the permit for at least six months before applying.² For-profit businesses and private individuals cannot run a raffle in Connecticut, even if they plan to hand every dollar to charity. The organization’s own qualified members have to run the operation, though a committee can be appointed to help. Secure the permit before selling any tickets.

Permit Classes, Prize Caps, and Fees

Connecticut sorts raffle permits into classes. Each class caps total prize value, sets a time limit to complete the raffle, and limits how many permits of that type an organization can hold in a year.³

Class 1: prizes up to $15,000, three months to complete, one permit per year, fee up to $75.
Class 2: prizes up to $2,000, two months to complete, three permits per year, fee up to $30.
Class 4: prizes up to $100, one month to complete, one permit per year, fee up to $15.
Class 5: prizes up to $50,000, nine months to complete, five permits per year, fee up to $120.
Class 6: prizes up to $100,000, one year to complete, five permits per year, fee up to $150.
Class 7: prizes up to $50,000, fifteen months to complete, no more than 12 separate drawings on different dates.

Class 3 permits cover bazaars, not stand-alone raffles. The fees listed are the maximums set by state law, and your town may charge less.⁴ Since January 1, 2018, the local municipal official handles the entire permitting process; the state Department of Consumer Protection is no longer involved in raffle permits.⁵

What Must Be on the Ticket

Every raffle ticket has to show the time, date, and place of the drawing, the three most valuable prizes to be awarded, and the total number of tickets available.⁶ If a winner must be present to claim the prize, say so on the ticket.

How to Value Prizes

The statute uses a simple test. Aggregate prize value is what the organization actually paid for the prizes. If a prize was donated, use its retail price.³ Buy a car at a discount for $18,000 with a sticker price of $25,000 and you’d report $18,000. Have a dealer donate the same car and you’d report $25,000.

Report accurately. Understating a prize to slip into a cheaper permit class can be treated as a false statement on the application, which carries the same criminal penalties as any other raffle law violation.

Online Sales

A nonprofit may sell or promote raffle tickets on its own website, but it cannot conduct or operate the raffle itself online.⁷ Advertising and taking orders through the organization’s own site is allowed; the actual drawing must happen at a physical location. Selling through third-party platforms or social media pages, rather than the organization’s own website, may fall outside the statute’s narrow language, so tread carefully with anything beyond your own site.

How the Money Has to Be Used

All raffle proceeds must go toward the aims and purposes of the sponsoring organization, spent as described in the permit application.⁸ If any facts in the application change after filing, notify the municipal official immediately. The official can revoke the permit if the changes raise public-interest concerns.⁹

When a raffle rides along with another event like a dinner or carnival, keep the raffle money separate. Each ticket must break out the raffle price from any other admission charge, and the raffle funds have to be reported and spent independently.

Reporting After the Raffle

The sponsoring organization files a post-raffle report covering total receipts, the number and price of tickets sold, expenses, profit, and a list of every prize with a retail value of $50 or more.¹⁰ Keep your documentation: ticket printing costs, prize purchases, permit fees, and any other expenses. The municipal official can ask to see the records.

Advertising

Raffle advertisements must carry enough information for participants to verify the raffle is legitimate. At minimum, ads should identify the sponsoring organization, the permit details, and the time and place of the drawing.¹¹ Represent the prizes and any conditions on participation accurately. Misleading promotion risks permit revocation on top of the criminal penalties that apply across the statute.

Federal Tax Obligations

Running a legal raffle under state law does not settle your obligations to the IRS. Two separate issues come up: what the organization has to report and withhold for winners, and whether the raffle income itself is taxable to the nonprofit.

Reporting and Withholding for Winners

For prizes awarded in 2026, the organization must file IRS Form W-2G for any winner whose prize meets or exceeds $2,000, provided the winnings are at least 300 times the ticket price.¹² If the prize value minus the ticket cost exceeds $5,000, the organization must withhold 24% for federal income tax before handing over the prize.¹³ For non-cash prizes such as a car or a vacation package, the withholding rate rises to 31.58%, because the winner has to pay the tax out of other funds.

When a group shares a winning ticket, the person who claims the prize fills out IRS Form 5754 identifying each member and their share, and the organization issues a separate W-2G to each person based on their portion.¹⁴

Tax on the Nonprofit’s Raffle Income

Raffle income can count as unrelated business taxable income for a tax-exempt organization, which would put federal tax on the net proceeds. One exception covers most small and mid-size raffles: if substantially all the work running the raffle is done by unpaid volunteers, the income is not treated as unrelated business income.¹⁵ Organizations that hire outside help or pay their own staff to run a raffle should talk to a tax advisor; losing the volunteer exception can produce a real tax bill.

Penalties for Getting It Wrong

Any violation of Connecticut’s raffle statutes, or a false statement on a permit application or required report, is punishable by a fine of up to $1,000, up to a year in jail, or both.¹ The same penalty covers running a raffle without a permit, misusing proceeds, failing to file the post-raffle report, and falsifying prize values. A raffle is a simple fundraiser on paper, but the paperwork carries the same statutory exposure as outright fraud on the application.

1
Justia Law. Connecticut General Statutes 7-186 – Penalty
2
Justia Law. Connecticut General Statutes 7-172 – Qualifications for Sponsorship of or Participation in Bazaar or Raffle
3
Justia Law. Connecticut General Statutes 7-175 – Kinds of Permits
4
CT.gov. Bingo, Bazaar and Raffle Information for Organizations and Municipal Officials in Connecticut
5
CT.gov. Charitable Games
6
Justia Law. Connecticut General Statutes 7-178 – Equipment, Expenses, Information Required on Raffle Ticket
7
Connecticut General Assembly. An Act Permitting Nonprofit Organizations to Sell Raffle Tickets Online
8
Connecticut eRegulations. Division of Special Revenue Operation of Bazaars and Raffles 7-185-1 Through 7-185-17b
9
Connecticut General Assembly. An Act Concerning Charitable Bingo Games, Bazaars, Raffles, the Department of Consumer Protection and Occupational Licensing
10
Justia Law. Connecticut General Statutes 7-182 – Report re Receipts, Number and Price of Tickets Sold, Expenses, Profit and List of Prizes
11
Justia Law. Connecticut General Statutes 7-183 – Advertising
12
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Forms W-2G and 5754 (Rev. January 2026)
13
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Forms W-2G and 5754
14
Internal Revenue Service. About Form 5754, Statement by Person(s) Receiving Gambling Winnings
15
Internal Revenue Service. Exempt Organization Gaming and Unrelated Business Taxable Income