How to price raffle tickets and decide how many to sell
Ticket price and the number of tickets are the two numbers that decide whether a raffle works. Set them well and the raffle sells out and covers its costs. Set them badly and you're left with a big prize, half the tickets unsold and a draw you still have to run. Here's how to get them right.
- Start with the full cost of the prize, not just its price tag.
- Ticket price times the number of tickets is the most a raffle can take. Plan around what you're confident you'll sell, not that maximum.
- Under the DCMS Code you can't lower the prize or cancel the draw if sales are slow, so size every raffle to sell.
- Start small, sell out, then grow.
Step 1: work out the full cost
Your costs are more than the prize. Before you set a price, add up:
- the prize, or the cash alternative if the winner is likely to take it
- any instant win prizes
- delivery, collection or handover costs
- payment processing fees on every order
- marketing, including any ads you'll run for this raffle
- a share of your platform and running costs
- tax: ask an accountant how VAT and other taxes apply to your business
Step 2: pick a price players expect
Players often buy several tickets at a time, so the price of one ticket matters more than you might think. On the raffles live on Reffle sites in October 2026, the most common ticket price was 99p, and more than eight in ten were priced at £2 or less. Bigger prizes can carry a higher price, but a low price with a sensible number of tickets is usually easier to sell.
Bundles help too. Multi-buy pricing rewards players who buy more tickets in one go, without cutting the price of a single ticket.
Step 3: set the number of tickets
Multiply the ticket price by the number of tickets and you get the most the raffle can take if it sells out. That figure needs to cover your full cost with room to spare. But the more important question is whether you'll actually sell that many.
A simple example: a prize that costs £1,000, with tickets at 99p, needs 1,011 tickets sold just to cover the prize. If your raffles usually sell around 1,500 tickets, putting 5,000 on sale means this one probably won't sell out. Somewhere nearer what you usually sell is a safer start.
Be realistic about your audience. New sites with a small following sell fewer tickets, so start with fewer tickets and smaller prizes, sell out, and add more as you grow. Selling out builds trust too, because players like raffles that fill up.
Step 4: set a fair limit per player
A cap on how many tickets one person can buy keeps the raffle fair and supports responsible play. Almost every raffle on Reffle sites has one. Free postal entries should follow the same limit as paid tickets.
Step 5: show the odds
The DCMS Code asks operators, where possible, to give players clear information before they enter about their likelihood of winning, such as the maximum number of tickets available. Showing tickets available and tickets sold lets players see their chances at a glance.
If a raffle doesn't sell out
Plan for it before you launch, because you can't fix it afterwards. The Code says you shouldn't give a prize of lower value or cancel a draw because ticket sales are low, and you shouldn't change the date a draw ends. So the draw goes ahead as advertised, and the lesson goes into your next raffle: fewer tickets, a different price or a smaller prize. More in our guide to picking a raffle winner.
Quick checklist before you publish
- The full cost of the prize and any instant wins added up
- A ticket price in line with what your players usually pay
- A number of tickets you're confident you can sell
- A per-player limit, the same for free entries
- Ticket numbers shown on the raffle page
- A closing date that leaves time for postal entries to arrive
How Reffle helps
Reffle's raffle builder shows your margin before you publish, with instant wins and cash alternatives counted, and flags raffles heading for a loss so you can act early. Bundles and multi-buy pricing, a ticket quantity slider and per-player limits are all built in.
Want to try it with your own raffle idea? Book a free demo.
This guide is general information, not financial, tax or legal advice. Price data: ticket prices on raffles live on Reffle sites, October 2026. Code references: DCMS Voluntary Code of Good Practice for Prize Draw Operators, clauses 2.3 and 2.5 (gov.uk). Last checked October 2026.
