Website Preview

Screenshot of Make A Smile Lottery website
Website screenshot captured

About

Make A Smile Lottery is a charity lottery website operated by St Helena Hospice Limited, a long-standing charitable organisation incorporated in August 1980. The site claims to offer a lottery-based gaming experience to players in Great Britain, with UKGC licensing, responsible gambling tools, and player fund protection in place, according to its website. Payment options stated include Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal.

The domain makeasmilelottery.org.uk was registered in January 2017 and runs until January 2027, giving it over nine years on record. Its SSL certificate carries an A grade, and the site supports modern TLS 1.3 encryption. DNS protections including SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are all active, which helps guard against email spoofing and phishing attempts that sometimes target lottery players.

St Helena Hospice Limited received its UKGC Society Lottery licence in November 2017 and has maintained it continuously for over eight years with no recorded enforcement actions. The charity is based in Colchester and operates under company number 01511841.

Features & Offerings

Key Offerings

  • Lottery

Main Features

  • UKGC licensed
  • Responsible gambling tools
  • Player fund protection

Can You Trust Make A Smile Lottery?

Positive Signals

  • Active UKGC Society Lottery licence held since November 2017
  • No regulatory penalties on record with the UKGC
  • A-grade SSL certificate with TLS 1.3 support
  • Full DNS email security (SPF, DKIM, DMARC all active)
  • Operator trust grade A with a score of 82 out of 100
  • Charity operator incorporated since 1980 with transparent Companies House registration

Concerns

  • Domain lacks DNSSEC and CAA records, leaving some advanced DNS protections absent
  • SSL certificate has a short validity window, expiring 4 May 2026

UKGC Licence Status

St Helena Hospice Limited holds a Society Lottery licence granted by the UK Gambling Commission on 22 November 2017, with no expiry date recorded. A Society Lottery licence permits registered charities and societies to run lotteries where proceeds go to a good cause, subject to UKGC rules on prize limits, ticket sales caps, and responsible gambling requirements.

Site Assessment

SSL & Security A
Grade A R12 TLS 1.3 HSTS
DNS Security D
✓ SPF ✓ DKIM ✓ DMARC ✗ DNSSEC
Domain History D
Registered 9 years
Regulator Status A+
UKGC: Active
Transparency A+
Public WHOIS
Site Presence D
Screenshot
Operator Trust A
82/100

Licensed Operator

The operator behind Make A Smile Lottery is St Helena Hospice Limited, a UK charity registered at Companies House under number 01511841 since August 1980. The organisation is based in Barncroft Close, Colchester, CO4 9JU. St Helena Hospice Limited has held an active UKGC licence for over eight years and carries an operator trust grade of A, with a trust score of 82 out of 100. Its clean enforcement record reflects a stable, long-established charitable entity operating within the bounds of UK gambling regulation.

Other Sites by St Helena Hospice Limited

This operator also runs 2 other licensed gambling sites: