The British Gambling Commission has published research into how consumers encounter and participate in illegal lotteries and raffles run by individuals on TikTok, Facebook and Instagram, with particular focus on a rise in unlicensed draws reported through 2025.
The three-stage study, conducted by Yonder Consulting, found that consumers were more concerned with whether a raffle appeared genuine than whether it was legal. Low ticket prices, informal presentation and familiar payment methods reduced perceived risk and made participants less likely to report concerns to regulators.
The research mapped how illegal lotteries spread through livestreams, algorithmic recommendations and reposts, with participation often extending beyond TikTok into third-party payment platforms and private messaging channels where consumer protections are absent and terms are opaque.
The Commission found that some smaller-scale hosts may not fully understand lottery law themselves, while others appeared to use framing and payment practices to obscure the nature of their operations. The regulator identified third-party redirect as the point of greatest consumer risk, not the original post.
