Frequently askedquestions

The Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity (GOSH Charity) Great Big Lottery is a new way to raise funds to support seriously ill children from across the UK cared for at the hospital. It is a weekly lottery and entries cost £1 a week. Every entry gives you the chance of winning one of 162 guaranteed cash prizes each week, with the top prize of £1,000. By taking part you’re raising funds to help patients at the hospital at the same time as being in with a chance to win a prize.

A lottery draw takes place every Friday apart from when it falls on a bank holiday.

Our weekly lottery is a fun and exciting way for new and existing supporters to get involved in raising funds to help GOSH Charity support seriously ill children from across the UK cared for at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH). We hope that by offering a choice of ways to get involved, we’ll reach more people and continue to engage our existing and valued supporters too.

The money raised from the lottery supports the hospital and its patients by funding four key areas: rebuilding and refurbishment, support for families and children, research into children’s health and life-saving medical equipment. The money is unrestricted and can fund the most important area at that specific time. Out of every £1 raised, 29p was spent on raising the next pound and 71p went directly to support the hospital.

*These figures are based on annual data for 2019/20 financial year.

Every week, all our weekly lottery players have the chance to win 1 of 162 guaranteed cash prizes:

• 1st prize: £1,000
• 2nd prize: £100
• 3rd prize: 10 x £50
• 4th prize: 50 x £10
• 5th prize: 100 x 1 free entry to the next draw

From February 2024 you will also be able to win up to £10,000 in our annual Super Draws.

If you pay by Direct Debit you will pay either £4 or £5 per line per month, depending on the month. Some months in the year will have five weeks and so five weekly draws.

With all our fundraising activity we are careful to keep the costs as low as possible to ensure as much money as possible goes to support the hospital. We anticipate the money we raise through the weekly lottery will significantly exceed the prize money offered each week. We have carefully considered the offering of a financial incentive which is already a key part of our existing, successfully established raffle fundraising programme. We also hope that the lottery will help us to reach new supporters too.

We continually monitor the cost effectiveness of all our fundraising activity, and this will include our new lottery programme of fundraising.

The prize money does not come out of the proceeds for the lottery. The Charity has set aside a budget of money to cover these.

Yes, every £1 entry has an equal chance of winning and the winning numbers will be drawn by at our External Lottery Management Company’s offices, using an industry standard ‘random number generator’. GOSH Charity’s weekly lottery is regulated by The Gambling Commission to ensure it is conducted fairly, openly and transparently.

You can find the rules on our rules page.

The minimum age to enter the GOSH Charity weekly lottery is 18.

You can find the rules on our rules page.

The lottery rules are available on our rules page. The purpose of these rules is to ensure you are informed about the terms of playing our lottery and to promote responsible gambling.

No, you must be a resident of Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) to enter.Residents of Northern Ireland, Isle of Man and The Channel Islands are also excluded from entering as they are covered by their own gambling laws.

You can find the rules on our rules page.

No. Your unique lottery game numbers are chosen randomly and will be your numbers for the duration of your membership of our lottery. When you enter the lottery, you will be sent confirmation of your unique lottery game numbers in your welcome letter.

You will receive a welcome letter in the post which contains details of your unique lottery number(s) and your first draw date. You will be entered into the draw when you have monies available and you will continue to be entered into the draw if you have monies available against your lottery number(s).

After the draw has taken place every Friday we will list the lucky winners on our winner’s page within 2 working days of the draw taking place.

We will contact you automatically if you are a lucky winner! If you do not wish to claim your prize you can just let us know by contacting the lottery helpline on 0330 123 9868 or emailing us at gosh@thecharitylottery.co.uk.

Winners will be notified by post and will receive a cheque to the value of the prize won. For winners of the free entry prize, they will be notified by post which will be sent out by Royal Mail on the day the Draw has taken place. Prizes will be posted to winners as soon as practicably possible and they are subject to successful completion of age verification.

If you have lost your lottery game number(s), then do not worry. You can call our friendly lottery team on 0330 123 9868 or if you would prefer to email, you can email us at gosh@thecharitylottery.co.uk

The maximum number of entries you can purchase per week is 10. (£10 per week).

When taking payments, GOSH Charity use a secure payments system provided by our External Lottery Manager. This ensures your details are taken in a safe and secure manner when you enter the lottery online.

If you are setting up a Direct Debit to pay for your entries, we are legally required to provide you with a 10 day cooling off period to allow you to change your mind if you wish.

Once this 10 day period has passed, your Direct Debit will be deducted at the earliest date possible – this date will be outlined in your welcome letter.

You can enter via our lottery website at lottery.gosh.org, by post or over the telephone. You can also sign up to participate in the lottery through one of our face to face fundraisers.

Alternatively, please talk to our lottery team on 0330 123 9868 Mon – Fri 9am – 5pm. (costs the same as a call to a normal landline) or email them at gosh@thecharitylottery.co.uk.

Payment

Payment for entries may be made by the following methods:

• Direct Debit
• Cheque
• Debit Card

Credit cards will not be accepted.

Yes, you can pay for entries via multiple methods. You can have a number of entries, all paid by a different method if you wish. The £10 per week entry limit will still apply whether one method of payment or multiple methods of payment are used.

Usually, we allocate the next available collection date for you to ensure that you are entered into the draw as quickly as possible. You can telephone the Lottery helpline on 0330 123 9868 for further details and to discuss any changes.

No, there will not be a rollover, there are guaranteed winners every week.

No, unfortunately we cannot claim Gift Aid on funds raised through lottery entries.

You will only be officially signed up if you reach the 'Thank You’ page and receive the confirmation email.

If you have connection issues and do not receive the confirmation email within a few days of sign up, it is likely you have not been successful. Please call our lottery helpline on 0330 123 9868 Mon – Fri 9am – 5pm where we will be able to help you and confirm if you are a member of the lottery.

Please call our lottery helpline on 0330 123 9868 Mon – Fri 9am – 5pm or email gosh@thecharitylottery.co.uk.

If you have any other questions about the GOSH Charity Great Big Lottery and your membership, please call our lottery helpline on 0330 123 9868 Mon – Fri 9am – 5pm or email gosh@thecharitylottery.co.uk.

Yes, we operate in compliance with The Gambling Commission (the UK regulatory body concerned with lotteries) requirements and the lottery is administered by a certified External Lottery Manager. For further information, please see our rules page.

For any further questions please contact our lottery helpline on 0330 123 9868 (Mon – Fri 9am – 5pm) or email gosh@thecharitylottery.co.uk

We have designed our weekly lottery to offer a new way for existing and new supporters to get involved with fundraising for the hospital.

The GOSH Charity weekly lottery is legislated by The Gambling Commission, the body responsible for overseeing the way charities and other organisations run lotteries to ensure they are conducted openly, honestly and transparently. We appreciate that not all our giving opportunities will resonate with all our supporters but we hope that by offering choice, we’ll reach new and wider audiences and continue to engage our existing and valued supporters.

Responsible gambling is a term that means staying in control of how much time and money is spent on gambling related activity and this is absolutely central to GOSH Charity when considering how we created and responsibly promote this fundraising opportunity.

Our lottery aims to encourage fair and open play and protect the young and the vulnerable. Some steps we have taken include limiting the ticket entries to only 10 a week, and only allowing people over 18 years old to participate.

If you are worried about your gambling or that of someone close to you, BeGambleAware is the UK's leading authority on the provision of support, advice and counselling to people affected by gambling problems. If you or someone you know needs help or advice call the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133 (lines open 24 hours a day) or visit www.begambleaware.org

While most people gamble within their means, we recognise gambling can be a problem for some.

If you are worried about your gambling or that of someone close to you, Gambleaware can provide support and information. You can contact Gambleaware via the website, www.begambleaware.org or by calling 0808 8020 133.

To support problem gamblers, we operate a self-exclusion policy, which means you will not receive any information about our lottery or raffles. To be added to our self-exclusion programme please contact our Supporter Care Team by phone on 0345 120 1363 (lines open Monday-Friday, 9.00am -5.30pm) or by e-mail at supporter.care@gosh.org

You can also exclude yourself from future Great Ormond Street Children's Charity raffles and lotteries by writing to us at GOSH Charity, 40 Bernard Street, London WC1N 1LE. We will take all reasonable steps to prevent any marketing material relating to our raffles being sent to any self-excluded customer and maintain a register of self-excluded persons.

For more information on responsible gambling, please visit www.begambleaware.org

You can cancel your entry in the Weekly Lottery at any time. To cancel contact our helpline on 0330 123 9868 (Mon - Fri, 9am - 5pm) alternatively you can email gosh@thecharitylottery.co.uk or you can notify us in writing to:

GOSH Charity Great Big LotteryFurness GatePeter Green WayBarrow-in-FurnessCumbriaLA14 2PE

Please contact the Lottery Helpline on 0330 123 9868, lines open 9.00am - 5.00pm Monday to Friday, or email gosh@thecharitylottery.co.uk