How UK prize draws work

What a prize draw is

A prize draw has three moving parts and everything else is detail. Entries are collected over a stated period, the period ends on a published closing date, and one or more winners are then picked at random from the entries that qualified.

The vocabulary around it is loose. "Prize draw", "online prize draw", "virtual prize draw" and "competition" get used interchangeably in marketing, and none of them is a legal category on its own. A "virtual" draw normally just means the selection is made by software rather than by a hand in a drum.

The parts that decide whether a draw is any good

Five things, all of which should be findable before you enter:

• The prize. What it is, whether it is cash or goods, and when it is handed over. The CAP Code expects prizes to be awarded as described in the marketing, normally within 30 days.
• The entry, and what it costs. Free, paid, or paid with a free route running alongside it.
• The entry period and the closing date, published up front.
• The pool. Only qualifying entries go into the draw, so the conditions that void an entry matter as much as the ones that allow it.
• The selection method, and whether the result is published in enough detail for an entrant to check it.

How the winner is picked

Two routes are recognised. Someone independent of the promoter can make or supervise the draw, or software can do it. The CAP Code requires prizes to be awarded in accordance with the laws of chance and, unless winners are selected by a computer process that produces verifiably random results, by or under the supervision of an independent person.

"Verifiably" is the load-bearing word, and it is the one worth testing. A draw run by software is only verifiable if the operator publishes enough for someone outside to arrive at the same answer. The Government's voluntary code for prize draw operators describes the same standard, a computer process producing verifiably random and auditable results.

A video of a draw is a record of an event. Published values are a record you can re-run. Our own approach, and why we chose it, is in the guide on how we prove our draws are fair.

The three legal footings a draw can sit on

This is where two identical-looking promotions part company. Under the Gambling Act 2005:

• A free draw. Entry costs nothing beyond the ordinary cost of sending it, such as a stamp. No payment means no lottery, and no licence is needed.
• A prize competition. Paid entry, kept outside the lottery definition by a genuine test of skill, knowledge or judgement that can reasonably be expected to stop a significant proportion of people entering or winning (section 14(5)), or by a free entry route of equal standing (Schedule 2, paragraph 8), or by both. A competition that is not a lottery, betting or gaming is not gambling under the Act (section 339), and the Gambling Commission confirms no licence or permission is needed for one that meets the requirements.
• A lottery. Paid entry with prizes allocated wholly by chance (section 14). A lottery cannot be run for private or commercial gain: outside the National Lottery they are mostly society and local authority lotteries, run under a Gambling Commission licence or a local council registration, plus a few small exempt types. Promoting a lottery outside those rules is an offence (section 258).

What a promoter should tell you before you enter

The CAP Code and the Government's voluntary code between them point at the same short list:

• How to enter, including the cost and any significant conditions.
• Restrictions on who can enter: age, location, anything personal or technological.
• The closing date.
• How and when the prize will be awarded, and how the winner will be chosen.
• Where to find the result. The CAP Code expects information showing that a valid award took place to be published or made available, ordinarily the surname and county of major winners.
• Your chances. The voluntary code asks operators to give clear, accessible information about the likelihood of winning and how prizes will be allocated before entry, where possible.

What happens if a draw does not sell well

This varies more than anything else on the list, and it is the most useful paragraph you can read in a set of terms. Some allow a closing date to move, a prize to be swapped or a draw to be called off when sales are slow. The Government's voluntary code says operators should not reduce a prize, change the end date or cancel a draw because of low ticket sales.

At Grand Draws every draw goes ahead on its published closing date, sold out or not, with the full advertised prize. There is no sales threshold, and we never cancel, postpone or reduce a draw because of low sales. One useful side effect: because the published ticket cap is the most that can ever be in a draw, a draw that has not sold out gives you better real odds than the figure you worked out before you paid.

How we do it, in short

We run prize competitions with both safeguards on every paid competition: a genuine multiple-choice skill question and a free postal entry route of equal standing, at /free-entry. Draws run automatically at 9pm on the closing date and are not streamed. Winners are selected at random from all qualifying entries, in accordance with the laws of chance, using a verifiable random draw, and anyone can recompute a result at /draw-check.

Our free £500 launch draw runs from 1 to 30 October 2026, one entry per person, and paid competitions open on 30 October 2026. The step-by-step version of our own process lives at /how-it-works, so this guide stops here rather than repeating it.

Common questions

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