Northern Territory

The Northern Territory works differently from every other state and territory, and differently from how it used to work on RaffleLink. Licensing NT has advised that there is no online-only exemption for the Territory. Selling raffle tickets to NT residents engages the NT's rules regardless of whether the sales happen online or in person.

Which rules apply depends on where your organisation is based.

If your organisation is based in the NT

The Territory's raffle rules apply to your raffle on any sales channel, online included. RaffleLink applies them as you build:

• A lottery permit is required once total ticket sales pass $5,000: a minor lottery permit up to $20,000, and a major lottery permit above that.
• Permits authorise roughly three months of selling. A raffle in the permit tiers that runs longer than 92 days gets a warning rather than a block, because the Director of Licensing can approve a longer period. If yours will run longer, arrange that approval with Licensing NT.
• Total ticket sales can be at most three times the value of the prizes. If your fundraising target grows, so must the prize pool.
• Liquor can't be the principal prize. If alcohol is your most valuable prize, you'll be asked to make something else the top prize.

You must confirm you're an approved association

Before an NT-based organisation can activate a raffle, an administrator has to confirm your status as an approved association under the Gaming Control Act 1993 (NT). There is no public register to check, so an authorised administrator confirms this directly.

You'll be prompted in three places, and they all do the same job:

• Settings → Verification, on the NT approved association card.
• Operating Details, while you're building the raffle — a banner appears under your operating states explaining that "You can keep setting up, but this raffle can't go live until an administrator confirms your organisation's approved-association status."
• The Compliance step, headed NT approved-association attestation required.

From either of the in-raffle banners, administrators get a Confirm your approved-association status link that opens the confirmation without losing your place. If you're not an administrator you'll be told who to ask: "Ask an administrator of [your organisation] to confirm the organisation's approved-association status in Settings → Verification."

Tick the confirmation and choose Confirm attestation. Until you do, your raffle can't be activated. (You can withdraw the attestation later if your status changes.)

If your organisation is based anywhere else

To sell any tickets to NT residents, an interstate organisation needs a foreign lottery permission from Licensing NT under section 40 of the Gaming Control Act 1993 (NT). There is no minimum size: the requirement applies from the first ticket, so this is a blocking requirement rather than a warning.

In practice you have two options:

• Don't sell in the NT. This is what most organisers do. The Territory is around 1% of Australia's population, so for most raffles the difference is negligible. Simply leave NT unselected in your states, and NT buyers won't be able to purchase.
• Obtain the section 40 permission. If NT sales genuinely matter to your fundraiser, apply to Licensing NT. Once you record the permission number and upload a copy of the document on your raffle's Compliance step, the requirement clears and NT buyers can purchase.

While NT is selected without a recorded permission, the Compliance step shows the requirement as an error and the raffle can't go live. You'll also see it as a banner under your operating states while building: "You can keep NT selected while you apply, but this raffle can't go live in the Northern Territory until the permission is recorded in the Compliance step. Most organisers simply leave NT unselected." — with a one-click Remove NT if you'd rather not wait.

What RaffleLink does

RaffleLink works out which lane applies from your organisation's registered address, checks the requirements above as you build, and adds the right wording to your raffle's public terms. If your organisation's address isn't set, RaffleLink assumes the stricter interstate position until it is.