Alberta Raffle License 2026: AGLC Rules and Fees

‍

Table of contents

• The four gates for an Alberta raffle

• Does your organisation need an AGLC raffle licence?

• Who is eligible to hold a raffle licence in Alberta

• How to apply, split by the $20,000 threshold

• AGLC raffle licence fees

• 50/50 draws in Alberta

• Chase the Ace in Alberta

• Selling raffle tickets online in Alberta

• Where the money must land: the designated gaming account

• Other AGLC charitable gaming licences

• Can you use Zeffy to sell raffle tickets online in Alberta?

• After the draw: reporting and records

‍

‍

Alberta raffle rules changed materially in late 2025. The Raffle Terms & Conditions were reissued on November 4, 2025, and one line in them shapes everything else: if the Terms and Conditions do not permit an activity, it is prohibited. Alberta is a closed list. This 2026 guide walks a small charity or nonprofit through what Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC) actually requires, using AGLC's own documents as the source.

‍

The four gates for an Alberta raffle

Before any form, four questions decide whether an Alberta raffle can go ahead legally. A charity can pass the first three and still be offside on the fourth.

• 1. May a charity or nonprofit run a raffle at all? Yes, if the organisation has a charitable or religious object approved by the AGLC Board and holds a raffle licence. Section 36(1) of the Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Act is blunt: "No person may conduct or manage a gaming activity unless the person holds a gaming licence that authorizes the activity."

• 2. May tickets be sold online? Conditionally. There are two paths. Only one is a real online raffle, and both come with strings.

• 3. May tickets be paid for by card? Yes, expressly. The Raffle Terms & Conditions permit cash, cheque, money order and any PCI-compliant payment method, with rules about what the platform can and cannot store.

• 4. May a third-party platform be the sales channel, and does the platform itself need to be licensed? Yes on both counts, and this is where Alberta is strict. The platform, the software and the vendor each need their own authorisation. Holding a raffle licence is not enough.

The closed-list rule. Section 1.2.15 of the Raffle Terms & Conditions, amended November 2025: "Any activity not specifically permitted in the Raffle Terms & Conditions is prohibited." In Alberta, silence in the rules is not a green light. It is a red one.

‍

Does your organisation need an AGLC raffle licence?

If people pay for a chance to win a prize, yes. The Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Act makes it a licensed activity, whether the raffle raises $500 at a hockey game or $500,000 at a gala. There is no size floor below which unlicensed raffles are tolerated.

The good news: activities that look like a raffle but are not do not need a raffle licence. AGLC lists these plainly:

• Silent auctions

• Live auctions

• Bottle drives

• Receiving donations

• Free giveaway contests, where no purchase is required to enter

• Fundraising sales of goods (baked goods, meats, popcorn and so on)

For a small nonprofit: the licence question in Alberta is a straight yes or no. If money changes hands for a chance at a prize, get the licence. If the fundraiser is a bake sale or a silent auction, do not.

‍

Who is eligible to hold a raffle licence in Alberta

AGLC's eligibility test is functional, not paperwork-based. From the regulator directly: "An organization does not need to be registered as a charity with Canada Revenue Agency to be considered a charitable organization with AGLC." Section 20(1) of the Regulation requires a charitable or religious object approved by the Board.

In practice, AGLC looks for:

• A charitable purpose in one of four buckets: relief of poverty, advancement of education, advancement of religion, or other purposes beneficial to the community

• A volunteer base drawn from the Alberta community

• A democratically elected, volunteer-based board or executive, with no more than 25% of executive members appointed and no more than 25% living outside Alberta

• Programs open to the community

• Bylaws consistent with AGLC's Charitable Gaming Policies Handbook

• Incorporation, if the total ticket value will exceed $20,000

For a small nonprofit: the CRA-charitable-status question is a distraction here. Alberta's test is whether the organisation actually functions as a community-benefiting group with volunteer control. A grassroots group that has never filed a T3010 can still qualify.

‍

How to apply, split by the $20,000 threshold

Alberta has one administrative threshold: $20,000 in total ticket value (TTV), calculated as number of tickets multiplied by price per ticket. That single number decides which form you use, how long you wait, and whether you need a separate bank account. There is no municipal permit route.

‍

Raffles at $20,000 TTV or less

Alberta uses a two-step process for these smaller raffles.

Step 1: eligibility. Submit the Eligibility for Raffle Licence ($20,000 and Less) form, together with the Internet Account Request Form to get an AGLC ID number. Return the completed forms to gaming.licensing@aglc.ca or by fax to 780-447-8911. Both forms are available on aglc.ca.

Step 2: the licence. Once AGLC has approved eligibility, apply for the raffle licence itself. For raffles at or under $20,000, an Alberta registry agent can issue the licence. AGLC does not charge a licence fee at this tier. Registry agents set their own service fee, so it is worth calling ahead to confirm.

Turnaround is short: AGLC typically reviews a complete eligibility application within three to five business days at this tier.

‍

Raffles above $20,000 TTV

Everything gets more formal.

Eligibility. Submit the Eligibility for Gaming Licence form, available on aglc.ca. The organisation must be incorporated at this tier.

Licence application. Use the Raffle Licence Application (More than $20,000), also on aglc.ca. If any tickets will be sold electronically, add the Electronic Raffles Addendum.

Lead time. Above $20,000, AGLC requires the application at least eight weeks before the ticket print deadline or the start of sales. This is not a soft target. Plan the raffle backward from the eight-week mark.

Documents you will need for eligibility:

• Meeting minutes specifically authorising the application (generic "board approved fundraising" language is not enough)

• Certificate of Incorporation

• Current operating bylaws

• Current list of board members or elected executives with addresses and phone numbers

• Current membership list with contact details

• Last year's financial statements

• Current-year or upcoming-year budget

• Land title or lease/rental agreement for any facility used for programs

For a small nonprofit: the $20,000 threshold is the decision. Under it, the process is light, mostly free, and quick. Over it, treat the raffle as a two-month project with real documentation, not a fundraiser to launch next Friday.

‍

AGLC raffle licence fees

Only the confirmed fee bands are published here. AGLC's own materials are internally inconsistent on the top band above $1 million, so this guide leaves that one to the regulator's current Fee Schedule.

‍

‍

For raffles at or above $1,000,000 in total ticket value, confirm the current fee on aglc.ca before applying: two AGLC pages have shown different figures for that band and the purpose-built Fee Schedule is the authoritative source.

The eligibility step is free at both tiers. Fees only apply at the licence step, and only above the $20,000 threshold.

Two other numbers that shape the budget:

• Prize corridor: prizes must equal 20% to 80% of approved TTV.

• Expense cap: total expenses including GST cannot exceed 30% of approved TTV. This is where a platform that costs the charity nothing is genuinely useful, because it protects the 30% ceiling.

For a small nonprofit: the AGLC fee is almost never the constraint. The 30% expense cap is. Cost every ticket-printing, prize, marketing and platform line against that ceiling before applying.

‍

50/50 draws in Alberta

A 50/50 draw is a raffle under Alberta law, licensed the same way as any other. The prize is calculated, not fixed: the winner receives half of the ticket revenue collected, and the charity keeps the other half.

Because the prize amount grows with sales, AGLC requires that tickets and marketing state the calculation, not a dollar figure. The 20% to 80% prize corridor still applies against approved TTV, and the 30% expense cap still bites.

50/50 draws are almost always the right first raffle for a small Alberta nonprofit. The prize scales with the crowd, the cash-flow risk is low, and the mechanics are simple enough to run from a hall or an event without specialist software, as long as tickets are paper and the draw is conducted from paper stubs.

If a 50/50 will be sold online, everything in the online-sales section applies. The 50/50 format does not create a special exemption.

For a small nonprofit: a paper 50/50 licensed under the $20,000 tier is the simplest, fastest, cheapest legal raffle in Alberta. It should be the default unless there is a specific reason to go online.

‍

Chase the Ace in Alberta

Chase the Ace is a progressive raffle: draws run week after week, and if the drawn ticket-holder does not turn over the Ace of Spades from a shrinking deck, the jackpot rolls into the next week. It is a raffle under Alberta law, not a separate licence category.

Because Alberta is a closed list under RTC 1.2.15, the exact structure of a Chase the Ace event, including the roll-over rules, how the deck is managed, what happens on the final draw, and how the raffle terminates, must fit within the Raffle Terms & Conditions or be specifically authorised in the licence. A charity considering the format should confirm with AGLC that the intended structure is permitted before printing tickets or announcing a start date.

For a small nonprofit: Chase the Ace is a heavier project than a one-off 50/50. It involves multiple weekly draws, weekly compliance, and a running licence. It works best for organisations with a weekly community touchpoint (a legion, a club, a church hall) and someone who can run the operational cadence for months.

‍

Selling raffle tickets online in Alberta

Alberta permits online sales, but the definition of "online" in the Raffle Terms & Conditions matters, and there are two very different paths.

‍

The two paths

Path A: online ticket sales (real online raffle). RTC 1.1 defines online ticket sales as "an ERS with the abilities to facilitate ticket purchases through the internet including, but not limited to, ticket ordering, processing of payments in real time, and generating the ticket for distribution." This is a fully electronic path. It requires an Electronic Raffle System (ERS).

Path B: online ticket ordering (paper by mail). RTC 2.5: "Licensed charities selling tickets using online ticket ordering must distribute tickets on paper by mail to the customer" and "must conduct a paper ticket draw by retaining paper ticket stubs at the time of sale." The purchase can be initiated online, but a paper ticket is mailed to the buyer and the physical stub is what goes into the draw. This path is mutually exclusive with pre-printed tickets for on-the-day sale.

‍

What the platform side requires

For the real online path (Path A), three authorisations stack:

• 1. The charity needs the raffle licence (with the Electronic Raffles Addendum).

• 2. The vendor providing the ERS must be registered as a gaming supplier with AGLC. Section 40(1) of the Act: "No person may make, sell, advertise or distribute gaming supplies unless the person is registered to deal in gaming supplies."

• 3. The software must be certified by an Accredited Testing Facility, compliant with AGLC's Electronic Raffle Standards Document, and approved by AGLC.

AGLC publishes its ERS Gaming Supplier List. Only vendors on that list are approved to lease, rent or sell ERS equipment and software to a licensed charity. Confirm with AGLC that any vendor being considered is on the current list before signing anything.

Two more constraints shape which platforms can even offer this in Alberta:

• Cost-of-service payment only (RTC 8.1): "The registered gaming supplier providing the ERS must be paid on a cost of service basis (e.g., fixed fee and/or flat rate). Payment based on a percentage share of ticket sales is prohibited." Percent-of-sales pricing is out.

• Canadian hosting (RTC 3.2): "the ERS server(s) must be located and operated in a secure location within Canada."

• No delegation (RTC 1.2.3): the charity "must not delegate the conduct and management of a raffle to any other entity."

‍

Buyer-side requirements

Whichever path is used, RTC 1.2.13 requires that the purchaser be 18 or older and located in Alberta at the time of purchase. Card payments are expressly permitted under RTC 2.3, but the transaction platform must meet current PCI Security Standards Council requirements. The charity cannot retain bank details, card numbers or CVV, though name, address, phone and email are fine.

The ERS specifications are set out in AGLC's Electronic Raffle Standards Document. The version linked from AGLC pages is dated July 2018 while the citing Raffle Terms & Conditions were reissued in November 2025; confirm with AGLC whether a newer ERSD applies to a specific application.

For a small nonprofit: going fully online in Alberta is not a small-charity move. The realistic route for most small groups is either a paper raffle, or the Path B "online ordering, paper by mail" model, and even that involves a mailing operation. If a fully electronic raffle is the goal, work backwards from the AGLC ERS Gaming Supplier List and pick a vendor there.

‍

Where the money must land: the designated gaming account

This is the single most under-served rule in every raffle-licence article, and it is the one small treasurers report finding out about after the fact.

For raffles above $20,000 TTV, AGLC requires a designated gaming account, and a separate account for each raffle. Not one gaming account for all raffles. One per raffle. Proceeds must be disbursed within 36 months of the last draw. Records must be kept for 2 years. The financial report is due to AGLC within 60 days of the final draw.

For raffles at or under $20,000, the general nonprofit bank account is legally permissible, but a separate account is still the safer path. It makes the financial report much easier to produce, and it draws a clean line between raffle funds and general operating funds.

Set the account up before tickets go on sale, not after. A treasurer who realises this after the raffle has already collected money has a reconciliation problem, not just a paperwork one.

For a small nonprofit: if the raffle is above $20,000, open the designated gaming account the same week the licence is applied for. If the raffle is under $20,000, open a separate account anyway. It costs nothing and saves the 60-day post-draw reporting from becoming a forensic exercise.

‍

Other AGLC charitable gaming licences

Alberta's Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Act establishes several classes of gaming licence beyond raffle. Most small nonprofits will only ever need a raffle licence, but for scope, here are the others AGLC issues.

‍

‍

Lottery terminal products (Keno, Sports Select and similar) are AGLC retail products sold through authorised retailers. They are not a fundraising tool available to charities.

For any fundraiser that involves paying for a chance to win, a raffle licence is almost always the correct instrument. Bingo, pull tickets and casino events involve venue-specific arrangements that push most small groups back to raffles anyway.

For a small nonprofit: a raffle licence is almost certainly the only gaming licence you will ever need. The other categories involve venue arrangements, operational complexity, and upfront costs that push most small groups back to raffles anyway.

‍

Can you use Zeffy to sell raffle tickets online in Alberta?

The honest answer: no, not for the raffle ticket sale itself.

Alberta requires that a fully online raffle be sold through an Electronic Raffle System that has been certified by an Accredited Testing Facility, complies with AGLC's Electronic Raffle Standards Document, is approved by AGLC, and is provided by a vendor that is registered as a gaming supplier and appears on AGLC's ERS Gaming Supplier List. Zeffy is not on that list. For a licensed Alberta raffle, the ticket-sale channel needs to be a vendor from AGLC's approved list.

Where Zeffy is genuinely useful around the same event:

• Event tickets for the fundraising event that hosts the raffle, through Zeffy's free event ticketing

• General donations on the same page or the same night

• Automatic tax receipts for the donation portion, via Zeffy's donation receipts feature

• The donor record, so a first-time raffle attendee becomes a known supporter you can steward

Zeffy is a free fundraising platform used by 100K+ nonprofits, with $2B+ raised for causes across North America. Zeffy charges no platform fee, no transaction fee, and no credit card fee. That is not "free after fees". It is simply free, and that matters against the 30% AGLC expense cap: every dollar not spent on platform fees is a dollar that stays inside the cap.

‍

After the draw: reporting and records

Financial reporting is required for every AGLC gaming licence.

• Financial report: due to AGLC within 60 days of the final draw.

• Records: keep all raffle records for 2 years after the licence expires.

• Proceeds: above $20,000, disbursed within 36 months of the last draw.

• Track from day one: ticket sales, prize payouts, expenses, receipts and invoices. AGLC's Raffle Ticket Inventory Control Procedure and Worksheet, available on aglc.ca, is a good starting template.

Above $20,000, AGLC sends financial reports to a named contact on the licence, so keep contact information current.

For a small nonprofit: the reporting deadline is 60 days, not 60 days after the money is spent. Build the report from the running spreadsheet, not from the receipts shoebox.

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍