Winning cash on a free instant win

The cash prizes, and the real odds on each

Three cash tiers, and the number of each is published rather than hinted at. The fractions below are what one play is up against:

• 1 x £50 cash, which is 1 in 10,000 entry numbers.
• 2 x £10 cash, which is 1 in 5,000 entry numbers.
• 5 x £5 cash, which is 1 in 2,000 entry numbers.
• Any cash at all: 8 of 10,000, or about 1 in 1,250.

Why 1 in 1,250 and not 1 in 172

The headline figure for the game is about 1 in 172, and that is the chance of winning anything, free tickets included. The chance of winning money is a different and much longer number, because most of the prizes in the ladder are free tickets rather than cash.

Both figures are true and only one of them answers "can I win money". So the one to hold in your head, if cash is what you came for, is the longer one. We publish both rather than leading with the friendlier of the two and hoping the distinction goes unnoticed.

Instant means you find out instantly, not that money lands instantly

This is the part worth being clear about, because "win money instantly" sets an expectation the second half of the process does not meet.

What is instant is the result. Your play settles the moment it is recorded and the game tells you there and then whether you have won cash. Nothing about that is held back until a draw date.

What is not instant is the payment. A cash win goes into the claims queue, a person checks it, and it is paid by bank transfer. No timescale is published for that, because none has been agreed and a figure invented to sound reassuring is the easiest promise in the world to break. What is fixed is that there is no fee, no deduction and nothing to buy in order to receive it.

What we need from you to pay a cash prize

Bank details, at the claim stage, and only then. That is a genuine qualification to the "no payment details" line that runs through the rest of this cluster, so it is better stated than discovered: playing needs nothing, being paid needs somewhere to pay.

The distinction that matters is the direction. We ask where to send money. We never ask for a card number, a payment, a fee or anything that could take money out, at any stage, for any reason. A request for one is the clearest possible sign that a message is not from us.

Is the cash taxed?

A UK competition or prize draw win is treated as a windfall rather than income, so a cash prize reaches the winner with nothing deducted and nothing to declare for the prize itself. That holds whether the prize came from a free game or a paid draw.

This is general UK tax treatment and not tax advice, and anyone whose own position is complicated should take their own. Our guide on tax and competition winnings sets the position out at greater length, with the HMRC source it comes from.