> The rules a UK prize draw or competition has to publish before you enter, what goes wrong when each one is missing, and how to read a set of competition terms quickly. Source: https://granddraws.co.uk/prize-draw-rules-uk --- # Prize draw rules in the UK **Before you enter, a UK promoter has to publish six things: who is running it, who may enter, how to enter including the free route, what the prize is, how and when the winner is picked, and how the winner is told and announced.** If several of those are missing, the competition has not really published rules. Here is what each one is for, and what goes wrong when it is absent. 1. 1 Who is running it A real company name and address, not a trading name floating on its own. A promoter has to be identifiable before you enter, and the register at Companies House is free to search. **Missing:** Without it there is nobody to hold to the rules, and nothing to look up. 2. 2 Who may enter The age limit and the territory. Many UK competitions are Great Britain only rather than UK-wide, because prize competition law is not the same across the whole United Kingdom. **Missing:** A territory that only appears at the checkout has wasted your time, and sometimes your money. 3. 3 How to enter, including the free route Every entry route, what each costs, and the closing date and time for each. A paid competition has to carry a free route of equal standing, and the free route has its own deadline, often earlier than the paid one. **Missing:** A free route that is technically present but impossible to find has not been offered to you. 4. 4 What the prize actually is Described precisely, with any cash alternative stated. "A luxury holiday" is not a prize description. "£5,000 paid by bank transfer" is. **Missing:** A vague prize is a prize whose value can shrink between the advert and the delivery. 5. 5 How the winner is picked, and when The method and the date, published before entry closes. "At random" on its own tells you nothing about who does the picking or whether anybody watches. **Missing:** A method decided after the entries are in is a method that can be decided around them. 6. 6 How and when the winner is told and announced How you will be contacted, how long you have to respond, and what gets published about you. Most promoters publish a first name and a county. **Missing:** A promoter with no announcement obligation has no obligation to have a winner. ## How to read a set of competition terms in two minutes Nobody reads terms end to end, and they are not written to be read that way. Four searches get you most of the answer. Look for the word *free*, which finds the postal route and its deadline. Look for *resident*, which finds the territory. Look for *draw*, which finds the method and date. Look for *cash alternative*, which tells you whether a non-cash prize can be taken as money. If any of those four turns up nothing, that is the finding. Terms that do not mention a free route, on a competition that charges for tickets, are the one worth stopping at. ## What the rules cannot do A set of terms is not a licence to do anything the promoter likes. Conditions that are genuinely unfair to consumers are not enforceable simply because they were written down, and a promoter cannot use the terms to take away something it told you in the advert. If the advert said the prize is £5,000 and the terms say the promoter may substitute something of its choosing, those two things are in conflict and the conflict is the promoter s problem rather than yours. Equally, rules cannot make an unlawful competition lawful. A paid draw with no skill question and no genuine free route is an unlicensed lottery whatever its terms say about itself. ## Ours, if you want to compare Everything on the list above is in [our terms](https://granddraws.co.uk/terms), and the parts an entrant actually needs are repeated on the competition itself rather than left there: the ticket cap, the closing date, the draw time and the free route. The [free postal route](https://granddraws.co.uk/free-entry) has its own page with the address on it, and [how the draw is run](https://granddraws.co.uk/draws) describes the method we publish before entry closes so the result can be rechecked afterwards. If you are weighing up a site rather than reading its terms, the shorter version is [the seven-question checklist](https://granddraws.co.uk/how-to-check-a-competition-is-genuine). ## Common questions ### What rules must a UK prize draw publish? Before entry opens: who is running it, who may enter, how to enter including the free route, what the prize is, how and when the winner is chosen, and how the winner will be contacted and announced. Those are the points a promoter has to put in front of an entrant rather than keep in reserve, and a competition missing several of them has not really published rules at all. ### Can a promoter change the rules after a competition opens? Not in any way that affects people who have already entered. Terms can be corrected for obvious errors and a competition can be ended early where the published terms allowed for it, but a promoter cannot introduce a condition after the fact and apply it to entries already made. If the rules changed in a way that matters, the honest thing is for the promoter to say so, prominently, and say what it means for existing entries. ### Does the free entry route have to be in the rules? Yes, and it has to be usable. A paid competition in Great Britain is lawful without a gambling licence because it turns on a genuine skill question or because it offers a free route carrying the same chance as a paid ticket. A free route that is harder to find, harder to use or worse odds does not meet the test, whatever the terms say about it. ### What should competition terms say about the draw itself? At minimum, the method and the date. The stronger version says what is published afterwards, and whether anybody outside the company can check it. A result you can recompute from published numbers is a different kind of assurance from a video of a wheel, because it does not require you to believe anybody. ### Are prize draw rules the same across the whole UK? No. Prize competitions in England, Wales and Scotland sit under the Gambling Act 2005, and Northern Ireland has its own separate gambling legislation. That is why so many UK competition sites limit entry to Great Britain, Grand Draws included: it keeps every competition inside one legal framework.