Idaho Charitable Gaming: Raffle Licenses, Bingo Licenses, and the Games Idaho Does Not Authorize
Raffles are lawful for a qualifying Idaho nonprofit, and so is bingo. Almost nothing else is. Idaho charitable-gaming authority is activity-specific, administered by the Idaho Lottery Charitable Gaming Division, and it turns on two separate thresholds that measure two different things: the value of raffle prizes going out, and gross bingo revenue coming in. This article covers who may hold a license, when each threshold is crossed, what the license costs at application and at renewal, the annual report that is due even in a year with no gaming at all, and the games that a charitable-gaming license never makes lawful.
On this page
- Key Takeaways
- Direct answer: raffles are legal, and they are one of only two games that are
- Who may hold a license: the category test and the one year in the county
- Two thresholds that measure two different things
- What the license costs, at application and at renewal
- What counts as a raffle, and what does not
- The games a charitable-gaming license never authorizes
- The annual report, including the year when nothing happened
- Online ticket sales: an open question, not a settled one
- The records to keep
- Related State Guide Sections
- Official Sources
- Read the Full State Guide
- Related Compliance Updates
Key Takeaways
- Raffles are legal for a qualifying Idaho nonprofit. Idaho authorizes bingo and raffles as charitable games, and the Idaho Lottery Charitable Gaming Division administers both.
- A raffle license is required once the aggregate purchase price or fair market value of the prizes exceeds $5,000. The measurement is what the prizes are worth, not what the tickets bring in.
- A bingo license is required once annual gross bingo revenue exceeds $10,000. Gross revenue is not net proceeds, so track it from the first event rather than at the end of the year.
- Eligibility has two halves: the organization has to fall within a qualifying tax or organizational category, and it generally has to have existed in the county for at least one year.
- The initial annual license is $100. Renewal is tiered on annual gross gaming revenue: $100 below $25,000, $200 from $25,000 through $75,000, and $300 above $75,000.
- The annual report is due within 30 days after the license expires and is due even when no gaming took place. A late report can carry a $100 penalty and affect future licensing.
- A charitable-gaming license does not authorize poker runs, casino nights, or Calcutta-style events. Those are not lawful charitable gaming in Idaho whatever the purpose of the proceeds.
- Whether raffle tickets may be sold online is not resolved by the current published Lottery materials. Treat it as an open question and get written confirmation before launching.
Direct answer: raffles are legal, and they are one of only two games that are
If the question is whether an Idaho nonprofit may run a raffle, the answer is yes, subject to eligibility and to a licensing threshold. The more useful framing is the one most organizations miss: Idaho charitable-gaming authority is activity-specific rather than organization-specific. Being a qualifying charity does not authorize charitable gaming in general. It opens the door to two named activities, bingo and raffles, and to nothing else.
The Idaho Lottery Charitable Gaming Division administers both. It sets the eligibility conditions, issues the license, collects the fee, and receives the annual report. The relevant law sits in the Idaho Code title 67 charitable-gaming provisions, with the general gambling prohibitions of title 18 in the background defining what stays unlawful.
So the sequence for any proposed event is: first classify the activity, then check whether the organization is eligible, then check whether the threshold for that activity has been crossed. Working in the other direction, starting from a fundraising idea and asking how to make it fit, is what produces the two failure modes described below.
Who may hold a license: the category test and the one year in the county
Eligibility has two halves and both have to be satisfied. The organization generally has to qualify under an eligible tax or organizational category, and it generally has to have existed in the county for at least one year.
The one-year county condition is the one that surprises new organizations. A nonprofit that incorporated this spring and wants a raffle at its first autumn fundraiser may be eligible on category and still not eligible on tenure. That is worth checking before prizes are solicited or tickets are designed, because the timing cannot be fixed later in the year.
Confirm both halves with the Charitable Gaming Division against your own facts. The category question in particular depends on what the organization actually is, not on what it does with the money.
Two thresholds that measure two different things
The raffle threshold and the bingo threshold are not two versions of the same rule. They measure opposite ends of the event.
For raffles, a license is required when the aggregate purchase price or fair market value of the prizes exceeds $5,000. The measurement is the value of what goes out. A donated prize still has a fair market value, so a raffle funded entirely by donated goods can cross the threshold without the organization spending anything. This is why prize valuation records matter, and why the threshold is applied to the aggregate across covered raffles rather than to each drawing on its own.
For bingo, a license is required when annual gross bingo revenue exceeds $10,000. The measurement is what comes in, and it is gross rather than net. Prizes, hall rent, supplies, and every other cost are irrelevant to the calculation. An organization that grosses $14,000 and clears $2,000 has crossed the threshold. Track the figure from the first event of the year, because reconstructing it in December is how organizations discover they should have been licensed since March.
What the license costs, at application and at renewal
The initial annual license is $100.
Renewal is tiered on annual gross gaming revenue rather than being a flat fee. Current renewal fees are $100 when annual gross gaming revenue is below $25,000, $200 from $25,000 through $75,000, and $300 above $75,000. An initial application uses the $100 initial fee regardless of projected revenue.
Two practical consequences. The renewal fee is set by the prior year's activity, so a successful year raises next year's fee rather than the current one. And because the tiers turn on gross gaming revenue, the same record-keeping that answers the bingo threshold question also determines the renewal fee. Classify revenue using the Division's current instructions rather than by analogy to another state.
What counts as a raffle, and what does not
A raffle is the classic structure: consideration paid for a chance at a prize awarded by drawing. Idaho treats duck races as raffles, which is a useful signal of how broadly the form is read. If participants pay to enter and a winner is selected by chance, the novelty of the mechanism does not change the classification.
A drawing that requires no consideration is not a raffle under the same analysis. Remove the payment requirement and the activity falls outside the raffle rules, though it then has to be genuinely free rather than nominally free.
Auctions are a separate category again. An auction without an element of chance is analyzed differently from a raffle, because the bidder is buying an item rather than a chance. Where an event mixes the two, and many fundraising evenings do, each component has to be classified on its own rather than swept under a single label.
The games a charitable-gaming license never authorizes
This is the point at which good intentions cause the most trouble. The Lottery identifies bingo and raffles as the authorized charitable games and states that poker runs, casino nights, and Calcutta-style events are not lawful charitable gaming. Holding a charitable-gaming license does not extend to them.
The same limit applies inside bingo. Other games such as casino nights or poker are not converted into lawful bingo by being run at a bingo event or by an organization that holds a bingo license. The license covers the activity it names.
The safe procedure is to classify the proposed activity with the Division before anything is advertised, before entries are sold, and before a game is conducted. That order matters: an event that has already been promoted is much harder to restructure than one still on paper, and the general gambling provisions of Idaho Code title 18 do not soften because the proceeds are charitable.
The annual report, including the year when nothing happened
The charitable-gaming annual report is due within 30 days after the license expires. It is due even when no gaming occurred during the license period, which is the requirement organizations most often miss. A licensed organization that held no raffle and no bingo night still owes a report saying so.
A late report can trigger a $100 penalty and can affect future licensing. The second consequence is the one worth weighting: a lapse recorded against the organization is a problem the next time it applies, long after the penalty itself has been paid.
File through the Division's current annual-report page or form and keep the supporting records rather than only the submitted summary.
Online ticket sales: an open question, not a settled one
This section is the reason this article carries a mixed verification label rather than a clean one, and the honest position is that the answer is not established.
The current Idaho Lottery materials we reviewed do not affirmatively resolve every question about digital sales, delivery, payment handling, and the interstate boundary. What follows from that is a caution rather than a prohibition: do not infer that online raffle ticket sales are permitted from the mere fact that ordinary online payment tools will process them. Payment processors do not decide gaming law, and a platform accepting the transaction is not a determination that the transaction is lawful.
If an online or electronic component is part of the plan, submit the exact proposed workflow to the Charitable Gaming Division and obtain written confirmation before launch. Free promotions, ordinary auctions, and donations made through a platform each require their own separate classification and should not be folded into one question.
The records to keep
For raffles, maintain the ticket, prize, drawing, and proceeds records, and keep the prize valuation documentation specifically. Valuation is what proves which side of the $5,000 threshold an event fell on, and it is the record least likely to exist after the fact for donated prizes.
For bingo, maintain receipts, prizes, expenses, and use-of-proceeds records. These serve three purposes at once: the threshold test, the renewal fee tier, and the annual report.
Retention is not a single clock. Event records and tax records may require longer retention than the gaming report itself, so do not dispose of underlying documentation on the strength of having filed the annual report.
Official Sources
4 official sources back this article.
| Agency / Authority | Source | Accessed | URL |
|---|---|---|---|
| Idaho Lottery Charitable Gaming Division | Idaho charitable gaming | https://www.idaholottery.com/charitable-gaming | |
| Idaho Lottery Charitable Gaming Division | Charitable gaming FAQ | https://www.idaholottery.com/charitable-gaming/faqs | |
| Idaho Lottery Charitable Gaming Division | Charitable gaming forms | https://www.idaholottery.com/charitable-gaming/forms | |
| Idaho Lottery Charitable Gaming Division | Charitable gaming annual report | https://www.idaholottery.com/charitable-gaming/submit-your-annual-report |
Read the Full State Guide
This article explains one part of a larger, continuously-verified state guide. For every fact, deadline, fee, and citation — including anything still marked Verification in Progress — see the full guide.
Would rather have this handled for you, in Idaho too?What we do, and where to start
We put a mission into words, file the registration, claim the grant and benefit programs that open once the determination letter arrives, worth up to $329 a day of Google advertising alone, and get an operating nonprofit found by donors, sponsors and volunteers.
Which of that applies depends on where you are. Tell us, and we will say what is open to you in Idaho and in what order.
Either route reaches a person who reads it and answers, usually the same day. There is no charge for working out what fits you. We are not attorneys and not CPAs, and nothing here is legal or tax advice.
About This Article
This article is compiled from official state statutes, agency instructions, forms, and government guidance already documented in the linked state compliance guide(s). It provides general information and does not replace legal, tax, or accounting advice. Where a cited fact is still marked Verification in Progress, treat the underlying point as unresolved and confirm directly with the relevant agency before relying on it.
Written by 501c3.HELP Research Team. See how 501c3.HELP verifies state nonprofit compliance requirements for the full research and validation process.