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Ontario 50/50 Licence 2026: AGCO Rules for Charities
August 4, 2026
⚡TL;DR — The Short Answer
Ontario 50/50 and raffle licensing at a glance
Verdict: A charity can sell 50/50 or raffle tickets online in Ontario, but only under a Registrar-issued electronic raffle licence and only through an AGCO-approved electronic raffle system from a registered supplier. Zeffy is not on that approved-supplier list, so it cannot be the ticket-sales channel for an electronic Ontario raffle.
What works: A small, non-electronic 50/50 with a prize board of $50,000 or less can usually be licensed by your municipality. Paper tickets, in-person sales at your event, cash or card at the table.
What doesn't: Selling raffle tickets online through any platform that is not on AGCO's approved-supplier list. Selling tickets outside Ontario. Advertising the raffle before your licence is issued.
Right fit when: Your prize board is modest and your donors are local. In Ontario, the non-electronic municipal route is often the simpler legal path for a small 50/50.
Do you need a lottery licence for a 50/50 draw in Ontario?
If your charity or nonprofit is running a 50/50 draw or raffle in Ontario, the licensing question splits on two axes, not one: the size of the prize board, and whether the draw is electronic. Get either wrong and you can end up with the wrong licence, or no legal licence at all. This guide walks through both, plainly, on the current Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) rules.
Yes, a licence is required. A 50/50 draw is a raffle under Ontario law, and every raffle conducted by a charity or nonprofit in Ontario needs a lottery licence before a single ticket is sold. There is no dollar floor below which a licence stops being required. A $200 prize 50/50 at a hockey game needs the same kind of authorisation as a $20,000 gala raffle.
What changes with size and format is who issues the licence: your municipality, or the Registrar of Alcohol, Gaming and Racing at the AGCO. The governing document is the AGCO's Lottery Licensing Policy Manual (LLPM), Chapter 5: Raffles.
For a small nonprofit: if this is your first 50/50, the honest answer is usually "yes, licence required, and it is probably municipal." Start with your municipal clerk before you print tickets.
AGCO or municipality: the two-axis decision
Most guides tell you the licensing authority splits at $50,000. That is only half the rule, and it is the half that gets small charities into trouble.
Under LLPM 5.1.1, the split runs on two axes at once:
Prize value. The Registrar has sole authority when the total value of prizes is greater than $50,000. Municipalities may only licence raffles where the total prize value (including any taxes) is $50,000 or less.
Electronic or not. Only the Registrar issues licences for electronic raffles, regardless of prize amount. A $500 online 50/50 goes to the Registrar. A $500 paper 50/50 at your event goes to your municipality.
An "electronic raffle" is defined in LLPM 5.3.1 as a raffle in which computers (including handheld devices) are used for the sale of tickets, the selection of winners, or the distribution of prizes. If tickets are sold online, if a random number generator picks the winner, or if prizes are distributed by e-transfer, the raffle is electronic and the Registrar is the only authority who can licence it.
The decision, in one paragraph
Non-electronic raffle with prizes totalling $50,000 or less: apply to your municipality. Any electronic raffle at any prize value, or any non-electronic raffle with prizes over $50,000, or a raffle run alongside another licensed gaming event: apply to the AGCO Registrar. There is no in-between.
Fees
Under Order in Council 208/2024, raffle lottery licence fees are 3% of prizes, with a specific carve-out: the licence fee for all stand-alone raffle licences issued by the Registrar is 1% of the prize board. Municipal raffle licence fees run up to 3% of the prize board. The exact dollar cap and any minimum vary by municipality, so confirm with your municipal clerk before you budget. Where a document lets you, ask them to point you at the by-law.
Blanket licences
LLPM 5.2.1 allows a blanket raffle licence covering up to a year, with a total prize board not exceeding $50,000. If your group runs multiple small draws over a season, ask whether a blanket licence fits your calendar better than a stack of single-event applications.
Minimum prize ratio
Under LLPM 5.1.2, the total value of prizes must be at least 20% of the total value of all tickets issued. For a straight 50/50 that ratio is met automatically (the winner takes 50%). For a fixed-prize raffle, plan your ticket run so you clear the 20% floor.
For a small nonprofit: if you want an online draw for the reach, budget the Registrar route and an approved supplier. If reach is not the goal and volunteers can sell paper tickets at the event, the municipal route is genuinely simpler and worth the tradeoff.
Is your organisation eligible?
Federal charitable registration under the Income Tax Act does not automatically qualify you. The AGCO evaluates eligibility on its own criteria under LLPM Chapter 2. In practice, an eligible organisation is:
At least one year old,
Established in Ontario, with a place of business in the province,
Set up to serve Ontario residents, and
Working toward one of the recognised charitable purposes: relief of poverty, advancement of education, advancement of religion, or other purposes beneficial to the community.
Groups that primarily serve the private interests of their own members typically do not qualify. That includes most amateur sports teams, social and hobby clubs, professional associations, unions, and political or advocacy groups. If you are not sure where your organisation sits, ask the AGCO before you spend time on the application.
50/50 draw rules in Ontario
A 50/50 is a raffle in which the winner receives 50% of the ticket sales as the prize. Ontario regulates it under the same framework as any other raffle, with two features that matter for planning:
The prize value is not fixed at the time of application. It floats with sales. This is fine, and it is exactly what the 50/50 format is designed to do.
Because the prize floats, your total prize board is estimated up front. If you expect ticket sales of $30,000, your estimated prize board is $15,000, and that is what determines whether you are under or over the $50,000 municipal ceiling.
Other Ontario rules that apply to every 50/50:
Tickets can only be sold in Ontario. Under LLPM 5.1.2 and 5.13.1(F), tickets sold under an Ontario licence must not be advertised, offered for sale, sold, or ordered from outside Ontario.
Only bona fide members of the licensed organisation may conduct and manage the raffle, and at least two designated members must be responsible.
Tickets and advertising must carry the licence number, the raffle rules must be approved and available to participants, and every ticket must display the ConnexOntario problem gambling line (1-866-531-2600).
Advertising and ticket sales may only start once the licence has actually been issued.
For a small nonprofit: the two rules that catch first-time organisers are "tickets in Ontario only" and "do not start selling before the licence is in your hand." Both are strictly enforced.
Catch the Ace: the progressive 50/50 variant
Ontario's own term for the progressive raffle where the jackpot rolls over each week until someone draws the ace of spades is Catch the Ace. You will see it as a column header on AGCO's registered-supplier table ("Progressive (Catch the Ace)"). Elsewhere in Canada it is called "Chase the Ace"; in Ontario, use the AGCO term.
Catch the Ace draws are electronic in almost every real-world implementation (weekly ticket sales, a running jackpot, an electronic ticket audit trail), which means they go to the Registrar and require an approved electronic raffle system from a registered supplier. If you are planning a Catch the Ace, plan for the Registrar route from day one.
Selling 50/50 tickets online in Ontario
Under LLPM 5.3.1, licensees are allowed to sell tickets for an electronic raffle both in person and online, but three constraints apply:
The licence must be issued by the Registrar (only the Registrar issues electronic raffle licences).
Both the buyer and the seller must be located in Ontario at the time of the sale. Ontario licences do not authorise sales outside the province.
A licensee may conduct and manage a maximum of four online raffles at the same time (LLPM 5.3.1(a)(viii)).
Card and debit payment is permitted, but the method must be disclosed and approved in the application. LLPM 5.9.1 asks for a full explanation of how credit card and debit card sales, and dishonoured cheques, will be handled, plus the cut-off date for payments by cheque, credit card, and debit card. Prizes may be distributed electronically (e-transfers, online gift cards), with a specific carve-out: gift cards with depreciating value or user fees are not allowed.
The requirement that trips people up: the platform itself must be approved
This is the gate our sector's small charities skip most often, and it is the decisive one in Ontario.
Under LLPM 5.1.2, raffle licensees must obtain goods and services only from registered suppliers, who must hold a current registration certificate under the Gaming Control Act, 1992. Under LLPM 5.3.1(a)(ix), that requirement extends specifically to the electronic raffle system:
There are a number of registered Gaming-Related Suppliers with AGCO-approved electronic raffle solutions that charities may use. Licensees may also develop their own online raffle sales platform. All proposed solutions, including charity-developed sales platforms, are subject to review and approval by the AGCO's Technical and Laboratory Services.
Under LLPM 5.3.1(a)(v), it is up to the charity to ensure it is working with a registered supplier and using the approved version of the supplier's technical solution. LLPM 5.14.1 states that using an unregistered supplier or sub-contractor puts the licensee in breach of the licence.
The AGCO's Electronic Raffle System (ERS) Minimum Technical Standards, effective 2025-01-08, define an ERS as the backend system plus point-of-sale, and expressly include "Online portal" as a point-of-sale that sits inside the regulated boundary. In other words, the sales channel is inside the licensed system, not outside it.
As of AGCO's registered-supplier list (updated 2025-07-31), ten suppliers hold approved electronic raffle system registrations: Ascendfs Canada, Bump Worldwide, Canadian Bank Note Company, MNP LLP (RNG only), Rafflebox, Raffle Nexus Canada, Rosewood, S.O. Asher, Stride Management, and Trellis. Consult the current AGCO registered suppliers list before you sign anything, because the list changes.
Can you use Zeffy to sell raffle tickets online in Ontario?
No. Ontario requires an AGCO-approved electronic raffle system from a registered Gaming-Related Supplier for the sale of tickets in any electronic raffle. Zeffy is not on the AGCO's list of registered suppliers with an approved electronic raffle solution, and Zeffy is not a licensed, registered, certified, or approved raffle system in Ontario. For an electronic 50/50 or raffle in Ontario, the ticket sale itself needs to run through a supplier that is on the AGCO list.
What Zeffy is genuinely useful for around your raffle event (Zeffy is 100% free, used by 100K+ nonprofits who have raised $2B+ on the platform):
Event tickets for the gala, hockey game, community dinner, or Catch the Ace draw night the raffle is attached to. Selling event tickets online is not selling raffle tickets online.
General donations at, before, and after the event, on a free donation page.
Automatic tax receipts for eligible donations (raffle ticket purchases are not eligible donations under the Income Tax Act, but the donations around the event are).
Your donor record for everyone who shows up, so the raffle turns into an ongoing relationship rather than a one-night bump.
Zeffy is 100% free. No platform fee, no transaction fee, no credit card fee. Ever. If you are already using it for event tickets and donations and were hoping to add raffle tickets to the same checkout, the honest answer for Ontario is: not for the raffle tickets themselves. Use an AGCO-registered supplier for the ticket sale, and use Zeffy for the rest of the fundraising around it.
Where the money must land: the lottery trust account
This is the requirement Ontario organisers report discovering after the fact, and it is worth setting up before you sell a single ticket.
Under LLPM 5.15.1, lottery proceeds must be deposited into a designated lottery trust account. Not your general operating account, not a savings account, not a treasurer's personal chequing account. A separate, designated account, in the name of the licensed organisation, used only for lottery money.
Practical implications:
Open the account before you apply. Some banks take longer than others; the account details typically go into the application.
Two signatures. At least two bona fide members of the organisation must be signatories, and both must be designated as responsible for the lottery.
Deposit gross, pay from the account. All ticket revenue is deposited into the trust account. Prize payouts, approved expenses, and the final transfer of net proceeds to the charitable purpose all come out of it. Do not net revenue on the way in.
Keep it clean. No general fundraising, no donations, no membership dues in the lottery trust account. It exists so an auditor can reconstruct the raffle from the bank statement alone.
For fixed prizes worth $10,000 or more, and for every fixed-prize electronic raffle, the Registrar also requires an irrevocable standby letter of credit from your bank. This is separate from the trust account and takes lead time.
For a small nonprofit: the trust account is where good intent meets audit reality. The rule exists because raffle money is not the charity's money until it clears prizes, expenses, and reporting. Treat it that way and the paperwork gets much easier.
Applying for a licence: what to prepare
Municipal application (non-electronic, prizes $50,000 and under)
Contact your municipal clerk's office and ask for their raffle licensing package. Each municipality sets its own by-law under LLPM 5.5.1, so criteria, lead time, and fee cap vary. What you can generally expect to provide:
Proof the organisation has existed for at least one year in Ontario,
Governing documents (letters patent, constitution, or bylaws) showing charitable objects,
A description of the raffle and how proceeds will be used,
Sample rules and a sample ticket,
Details of the designated members conducting the raffle,
The lottery trust account information.
Confirm the municipal lead time with your municipality. AGCO's 45-day rule applies to Registrar-issued licences, not municipal ones.
Registrar application (electronic raffles, or non-electronic over $50,000)
Submit through the AGCO's raffle licensing portal. Under LLPM 5.9.1, first-time Registrar applications must be submitted at least 45 days before ticket sales begin, and advertising and sales cannot start until the licence has been issued. In addition to the municipal-style documents above, you will need:
Your complete ticket sales plan, including how credit card and debit card sales and dishonoured cheques will be handled, and cut-off dates,
The identity of your registered gaming-related supplier and the approved version of their electronic raffle system,
Your standby letter of credit if fixed prizes total $10,000 or more, or for any fixed-prize electronic raffle,
Your prize distribution plan, including any electronic methods (e-transfers, gift cards without depreciating value or user fees).
Ticket requirements
Every raffle ticket in Ontario must carry specific information on the front and back, including the licence number, licensee, prize details, draw date and location, ticket price, and the ConnexOntario line (1-866-531-2600). The full list is on the AGCO's ticket requirements page. If you are printing physical tickets for a paper 50/50, get the layout signed off by your licensing authority before the print run.
After the draw: records, reporting, audits
Records
Keep detailed financial records for every raffle: ticket revenue, prize payouts, expenses, net proceeds, and distribution. Ontario licensees are expected to retain these records for a minimum of seven years. Keep the bank statements from the lottery trust account, the ticket audit trail, and the winner declarations in the same file.
Reporting
After the raffle closes, submit a financial report to the licensing authority (municipality or Registrar) showing total sales, prizes awarded, approved expenses, net proceeds, and how the net proceeds were used against the charitable purpose you applied for. Late or missing reports are the most common reason licences get refused the next time around.
Audits and incidents
The AGCO can audit any licensed organisation at any time. Under the raffle terms and conditions, licensees are also required to report incidents (a lost drum of tickets, a missing winner, a suspected fraud, a system outage in an electronic raffle) to the Registrar. Documenting incidents at the time protects the licence for the next season.
Use of proceeds
Net proceeds must go to the charitable purpose approved in the licence application, and must benefit Ontario residents. Proceeds cannot be directed to causes outside Ontario or used for the private interests of members. Salaries and operating costs can only be paid from lottery proceeds if they are directly tied to delivering the approved charitable programme and were approved in advance.
Yes. Every 50/50 draw run by a charity or nonprofit in Ontario requires a lottery licence before ticket sales begin. There is no small-draw exemption. The licence is issued by your municipality if the raffle is non-electronic and the estimated prize board is $50,000 or less, and by the AGCO Registrar if the raffle is electronic (at any prize amount) or non-electronic over $50,000.
You need an AGCO Registrar licence any time (a) the raffle is electronic, meaning computers are used for ticket sales, winner selection, or prize distribution, or (b) the total prize value exceeds $50,000, or (c) the raffle is conducted together with another licensed gaming event. In every other case, your municipality is the licensing authority.
Yes, but only under a Registrar-issued electronic raffle licence, and only through an AGCO-approved electronic raffle system from a registered Gaming-Related Supplier. Both buyer and seller must be in Ontario at the time of sale. A licensee can run a maximum of four online raffles at once.
No. Zeffy is not on AGCO's list of registered suppliers with approved electronic raffle solutions. For an electronic raffle in Ontario, the ticket sale itself needs to go through a supplier on that list. Zeffy can be used for event tickets, general donations, tax receipts, and the donor record around the event.
Catch the Ace is Ontario's term for the progressive 50/50 variant where a rolling jackpot builds each week until a player draws the ace of spades from a shrinking deck. In Ontario it is regulated as an electronic raffle in almost all real-world implementations and is licensed by the AGCO Registrar through an approved electronic raffle system.
In a designated lottery trust account in the name of the licensed organisation, separate from your general operating account. All ticket revenue goes in; prizes, approved expenses, and the final transfer to your charitable purpose come out. At least two designated members must be signatories.
For Registrar-issued licences, first-time applications must be submitted at least 45 days before ticket sales begin. Advertising and sales cannot start until the licence has been issued. Municipalities set their own lead times by by-law, so confirm with your municipal clerk before you plan the draw date.
No. Under the Income Tax Act, the purchase of a raffle or 50/50 ticket is not a gift and does not qualify for an official charitable donation receipt. Any donations made around the event, without a chance-of-winning attached, can be receipted normally.
Bona fide members of the licensed organisation may conduct and manage the raffle, and at least two designated members must be responsible. In practice, volunteers who are members of the organisation can sell tickets under the supervision of the designated members. Both seller and buyer must be in Ontario at the time of the sale, and the organisation is accountable for all conduct related to the raffle.
No. Under Ontario's rules, proceeds must benefit Ontario residents and must be used for the charitable purpose approved in the licence application. They cannot be directed to a cause or organisation outside Ontario, and they cannot be used to benefit the private interests of members.
Some helpful links for a charity lottery in Ontario.
Here's a recap of all the documents mentioned in this article:
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Raffle laws
Alberta Raffle License 2026: AGLC Rules and Fees
Online charitable lotteries. 50/50 draws in Alberta. Eligibility for a nonprofit or charity lottery licence. Zeffy can help make sense of lotteries in Alberta.
Look for people who attend related events, follow relevant Facebook groups, or subscribe to aligned newsletters.These aren’t just potential donors—they’re your future advocates.
Look for people who attend related events, follow relevant Facebook groups, or subscribe to aligned newsletters.These aren’t just potential donors—they’re your future advocates.
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