# Society lottery short codes for mobile phones to be ready for Christmas?

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/09/22/society-lottery-short-codes-mobile-phones-ready-christmas/
- Published: 2017-09-22T00:01:54+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**Five-digit short codes will soon be available to enable charities to expand lotteries
and raffles to mobile phones and devices.**

Updates on their introduction are expected to be reported today by the mobile networks
at a conference at Cancer Research UK’s offices held by The Association for Interactive
Media &Micropayments (AIMM), the trade association of bodies involved in mobile 
messaging, payment and entertainment.

## Society lottery short codes

The five-digit society lottery short codes will be used to take payments from mobile
phone accounts to pay for Society Lottery tickets. Starting with 72XXX, they will
work in a similar way to text donation short codes, which start with 70XXX.

## Advertisement

Currently charities can not use donation short codes for lottery payments. The new
distinctive codes will enable that to change.

All payments will be made from player’s mobile phone accounts.

 

![Simulated mobile society lottery code, by RSM 2000 Ltd](https://wfay6x.infiniteuploads.
cloud/2017/09/mobile-society-lottery-code-simulation.jpg)

_Simulated mobile society lottery play, by RSM 2000 Ltd_

 

## How will they be used?

The 72XXX codes are expected to offer a simple and straightforward method of paying
to enter society lottery games. These will include:

·         Lotteries

·         Raffles

·         Instant Win games

·         Competitions

Roger Craven, manager of Vir2 Mobile services at [RSM 2000](http://rsm2000.co.uk),
explained: “We practically all look at Facebook and Twitter on mobile devices. Society
lottery short codes allow charities to capitalise on the sense of urgency created
by rollovers, bonus plays and time limited opportunities to trigger additional plays
from existing members and to acquire new players using posters, digital, TV and 
radio channels.”

## Dedicated or shared codes?

As with text donations, charities will have the choice of buying their own dedicated
short codes for fundraising campaigns, or take the lower cost option of using a 
shared short code. 

With the latter – Vir2 Mobile, RSM 2000’s SMS platform offers 72020 – each charity
can rent one or more keywords on the code that are unique to that organisation. 
The supplier system will match the unique keyword from the player to the relevant
charity and lottery.

Not surprisingly, there is expected to be some competition to secure popular keywords
on shared numbers, such as Play, Win, Ticket, Bonus.

The new codes will also enable players to use keywords to trigger a single payment
or a regular payment, including weekly, monthly, quarterly or annually.

## Further approval required

Delegates at the London conference will hear that any games played using the new
short codes will need regulatory approval from the Gambling Commission and the Phonepaid
Services Authority.

Nevertheless, it is hoped that the first services will be introduced in time for
Christmas raffles.

 * **[Zaffo launches raffle service to help corporates support charities](https://fundraising.co.uk/2019/10/15/zaffo-launches-raffle-service-to-help-corporates-support-charities/)**(
   15 October 2019)
 * **[Charity raffle offers Picasso painting for €100 a ticket](https://fundraising.co.uk/2019/12/09/charity-raffle-offers-picasso-painting-for-e100-a-ticket/)**(
   9 December 2019)
 * **[Raffle platform raises over £100k for charities during lockdown](https://fundraising.co.uk/2020/10/21/raffle-platform-raises-over-100k-for-charities-during-lockdown/)**(
   21 October 2020)

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