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How to Print Numbered Raffle Tickets
Manesh Jayawardhana
CIO & Co-founder
The mechanism is simple: two halves with the same number. The buyer keeps one, you keep the other with their name on it, and at the draw the numbers match up.
Everything that goes wrong with a raffle goes wrong in that matching.
The stub is the record
The ticket half proves the holder bought it. The stub is your record of who holds which number, and without matching numbers you have a box of tickets and an unrelated list of names.
Both halves need the number printed clearly and legibly. Not handwritten later — printed, because handwriting a hundred pairs guarantees at least one mismatch and one illegible digit.
Keep stubs attached until sold, then separate at the point of sale with the buyer’s name and contact written on the stub. That way an unsold ticket is obviously unsold.
Numbering that reconciles
Zero-padded, fixed width. 001 to 500, not 1 to 500. It sorts correctly, it makes a missing number immediately visible when reconciling, and it looks deliberate.
A prefix identifying the event. SUM26-001. Essential if you run more than one raffle a year, and useful even if you don’t — it prevents last year’s leftover tickets being sold by accident.
Sequential with no gaps. A gap in a reconciled sequence means a ticket is unaccounted for, and knowing that immediately is the point of numbering at all.
At the end, stubs plus unsold tickets should equal the total printed. If they don’t, something is missing and you want to know before the draw rather than during it.
| Element | Do | Don’t |
|---|---|---|
| Number format | 001, zero-padded | 1, 2, 3… |
| Prefix | Event identifier | None |
| On both halves | Printed | Handwritten later |
| Reconciliation | Stubs + unsold = total | Assume |
Raffles are regulated
Worth checking before the print run rather than after.
Many jurisdictions regulate lotteries and raffles, and the rules commonly cover: whether registration or a licence is required above a certain size, what information must be printed on the ticket, who may sell to whom, restrictions on selling to minors, and how proceeds must be handled for a charitable raffle.
The requirements often distinguish between a small raffle at a private event and one sold to the public, with the second facing considerably more regulation.
In the UK, the Gambling Commission publishes guidance on which lotteries need registration and what must appear on tickets. Other countries have equivalents, and the details differ enough that assuming is a poor plan.
Some jurisdictions require the ticket to show the promoter’s name, the price, the draw date and the registration details — which is a good reason to check before printing five hundred of them.
Printing practicalities
Four to eight per A4 depending on how much room the stub needs. Six is a reasonable balance.
Cut lines marked between tickets and between ticket and stub. A perforation is better if your printing allows it.
Card rather than paper, so tickets survive a pocket.
Print a test sheet and cut it before running five hundred. Margins shift between printers and a misaligned cut line ruins the batch.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Numbering only one half.
- Starting from 1 rather than 001.
- Printing without checking local raffle rules.
- Separating stubs before sale, so unsold tickets aren’t identifiable.
- Not reconciling before the draw, which is when a discrepancy becomes a problem in public.
How to do it with Raffle Ticket Generator
The Raffle Ticket Generator produces tickets with matching numbered stubs.
- Set the number range and a prefix identifying the event.
- Choose a layout leaving enough room on the stub for a name and phone number.
- Print a test sheet and cut it before the full run.
- Check what your jurisdiction requires on the ticket first.
Other event tools are in the tools directory.
Frequently asked questions
Why does the stub need the same number?
Because the stub is your record of who holds which ticket. The matching number is the whole mechanism — without it you have tickets and unrelated contact details.
Should tickets be sequentially numbered?
Yes, and zero-padded from a fixed width. It sorts correctly and makes gaps obvious. A missing number in a sequence is immediately visible when reconciling.
Are there legal requirements for a raffle?
Often, and they vary. Many jurisdictions regulate lotteries and require registration above a certain size, with rules about what must be printed on the ticket. Check before printing.
Final thought
Check the rules, then print a test sheet. Both take twenty minutes and both are considerably cheaper than discovering the problem after five hundred tickets.