Poker, bingo, quiz and raffle nights in a pub: the gambling rules, and where the money actually comes from

A pub can run poker, bingo, cribbage, dominoes and a quiz without any gambling licence, but the limits are tight and the money rules surprise people. Poker in a pub is capped at a £5 stake per player per game, £100 of combined stakes per day and a £100 prize per game, and you can't charge to take part, not even through a compulsory meal. Bingo is capped at £2,000 a week. A raffle at an event has to be for charity, not the pub. A genuine knowledge quiz can take an entry fee. So the profit from a games night is almost never the game. It's the bar.

Games nights are one of those things pubs tend to ask about after they've already run one. The rules live in the Gambling Act 2005 and the Gambling Commission's code of practice for pubs and clubs. Here they are in one place, with the bit nobody mentions: how the money actually works.

What you can run without a licence

Game	Can a pub run it?	The limits
Poker	Yes, as exempt equal chance gaming	£5 per player per game, £100 combined stakes per day, £100 maximum prize per game, no participation fee
Bingo	Yes	£2,000 a week in stakes or prizes without an operating licence
Cribbage and dominoes	Yes	No stake limit
Other equal chance games	Yes	£5 per person per game
Quiz with a prize	Yes, it's a prize competition, not gambling	Has to really depend on skill or knowledge
Raffle or tombola at an event	Yes, as an incidental lottery	For charity only, tickets sold at the event, up to £100 for expenses and £500 for bought prizes
Anything against the house, like blackjack with you as the bank	No	Pubs can only offer equal chance gaming, with no bank

The Gambling Commission's code says gaming in a pub has to be "ancillary to the main purpose of the premises". It's something you do in a pub, not the reason the pub exists. If it becomes the main thing, you've stopped being exempt.

Poker: the rules in full

The Commission is very specific about poker, because leagues are the bit that most often goes wrong.

• Stakes and prizes. £5 per player per game, combined stakes no more than £100 a day across the premises, and £100 maximum prize per game. That £100 a day is the one that catches people out: it's 20 players at the full £5, total, for the whole day.
• No entry fee, in any form. You can't charge to play. The Commission says that includes a compulsory charge for a meal or a "voluntary" contribution for playing. You also can't take a cut of the stakes or the prizes.
• Tournaments, not cash games. The code strongly advises against cash games and says any poker organised by the pub should be tournament poker played with chips supplied by the pub. Players don't bring their own cards or chips.
• Keep a record. The designated person keeps a record of games played, the number of players, the amount staked and the amount won, so you can show you stayed inside the limits.
• No linked games. A game where players in different pubs compete for one prize is linked gaming, and that's not allowed. Big regional finals need the right venue and permissions.

In England and Wales the person responsible is your designated premises supervisor. Stakes are paid in cash before the game starts, no credit. The rules of the game should be on display, a laminated card on the table does it. Under-18s are kept out. And it has to be somewhere staff can supervise.

Get it wrong and the council can remove your pub's right to exempt gaming altogether under section 284 of the Act. The Commission's own guidance lists charging a participation fee, taking money from stakes or winnings, and breaking the stake and prize limits as the reasons it happens.

Bingo

You can run bingo in the pub up to £2,000 a week in stakes or prizes without needing an operating licence. Over that, you're into licensed bingo, which is a different business entirely. For a weekly bingo night in a local, the cap isn't usually the problem. The same equal chance rules apply: no entry fee on top, no cut for the house.

Quiz night: the one you can charge for

A quiz isn't gambling. It's a prize competition, decided by skill, knowledge or judgement, so the Gambling Act doesn't licence it. That means you can charge an entry fee and offer a prize.

The condition is that it has to be a real test. The legal wording is that the skill involved has to be enough to stop a significant number of people entering, or a significant number of entrants winning. A proper pub quiz clears that easily.

Where pubs drift is the add-ons. A rollover jackpot decided by drawing a card, a "play your cards right" finish or a dice roll to break a tie are chance, not skill. Paid entry plus a prize decided by chance starts to look like a lottery or gaming, and that's where the rules above come back in. Keep the money part on the questions.

Raffles: not for the pub's till

A raffle, tombola or sweepstake at an event is an incidental lottery, and you don't need a licence for it. But the Gambling Commission is clear it can only raise money for charity, not for private gain. So the meat raffle that pays for the Christmas staff do isn't one of these.

The rest of the rules, from the Commission's own page:

• It has to run alongside an event, like a fundraising night or a festival, and can't be the main reason for the event. Tickets are sold only at the event, while it's on, so no selling in advance and nothing online or on social media.
• Up to £100 of the takings can cover expenses, and up to £500 can buy prizes. Donated prizes have no limit. No rollovers.

Charity race nights have their own separate limits on what players pay and the total prize fund. If you're planning one, ring your council licensing team first.

So where's the money?

Add it up and the house makes nothing on the game itself. Poker and bingo can't charge entry or take a cut, raffles go to charity, and the quiz entry usually goes back out as the prize. The money is what goes over the bar while people play.

Here's a rough sum, mine, not a real pub. Say a Tuesday quiz brings in 30 people who wouldn't have been in, and each has two drinks. The average pint carries about £2.23 of gross profit once VAT and cost come out, the figure I used in the Sky Sports guide. That's about £134 of gross profit on a night that would otherwise have been quiet, before you've paid the extra staff hours. If a quiz brings in 12 people who would've been in anyway, it's mostly just costing you the prize.

That's the real test for any games night. Count the people who came because of it, not everyone who was in.

The stocktake bit: prizes from the bar

The bottle of wine for the quiz winners, the round of drinks for the poker champion, the free pint for the bingo caller. If any of it comes off the shelf without going through the till, it's a missing bottle on stocktake day.

Ring prizes through a comp or prize button at zero, or write them in the comps log the night they go out. The comps and freebies guide has the full method. It takes ten seconds and it means your variance shows the loss you've actually got, not the quiz prizes from three weeks ago.

If you're running a big one-off, like a charity night with a raffle and a race night, the function bar guide covers counting before and after so the event's drinks don't blur into the week.

My take

Games nights are worth doing for the trade, not for the game. A quiz is the only one where you can legally charge, and even there the entry fee is best put straight back as the prize so it pulls people in. Poker leagues are fine as long as nobody's paying to sit down. And keep the pub's raffles for charity, or don't call them raffles.

In Scotland, the Commission's code says equal chance gaming needs to be provided for in your premises licence operating plan, so check yours before you start. This is my plain read of the Gambling Commission's guidance, not legal advice, and your council licensing team is the place to ask if you're unsure.

Common questions

Can a pub charge an entry fee for a poker night?

No. Under the exempt gaming rules a pub can't charge a participation fee for poker, and the Gambling Commission says that includes a compulsory meal charge or a "voluntary" contribution. Stakes are limited to £5 per player per game, £100 combined per day, with a £100 maximum prize per game.

Is a pub quiz with a cash prize legal?

Yes. A quiz that really depends on skill or knowledge is a prize competition, not gambling, so it doesn't need a licence and you can charge entry. Adding a chance element, like a card-draw jackpot, can turn it into a lottery or gaming.

How much can a pub pay out on bingo?

Bingo in an alcohol-licensed pub is limited to £2,000 a week in stakes or prizes without a bingo operating licence.

Can a pub run a raffle to raise money for itself?

Not as an incidental lottery at an event. The Gambling Commission says those can only raise money for charity, not for private gain. Tickets must be sold at the event, up to £100 can go on expenses and up to £500 on bought prizes.