A cash alternative lets a winner take money instead of the prize. It sounds simple. The details decide whether it’s a fair swap.
Two different things get called a cash alternative
The first is a choice: you win a watch or a car and can take a stated sum of cash instead. The second is a fallback: if the site doesn’t sell enough tickets, the prize you were playing for is replaced with a share of the ticket money. They are not the same, and the second is the one to watch.
The fallback the ASA ruled against
In 2020 the ASA upheld complaints against two competition sites whose terms swapped the advertised prize for 70% of ticket sales if tickets didn’t sell out. It found 70% of sales “not a reasonable equivalent to the first prize of £10,000” in one case. Read the rulings: Hydro Solutions Fylde Ltd and KS Competitions Ltd.
What to check on any site
- Is the cash figure written down as a sum, or as a share of something?
- Does it depend on how many tickets sell?
- When was the prize’s value fixed? A figure that moves with the market can shrink.
- How long until you are paid or the prize is delivered?
How Hoardsy does it
An item prize’s price is frozen when the competition is published, and the winner can take 80% of that price in cash instead. It’s a stated sum, set before a ticket is sold, and it doesn’t depend on sales. Prizes and withdrawals are delivered within 1 to 5 working days. There is no minimum number of sales, so the advertised prize always stands.
How Hoardsy runs its competitions
- Closing dates are never extended for slow sales.
- There’s no minimum number of sales: every end-draw prize and top instant prize is awarded, sold out or not.
- Every competition page shows its prizes and your chance per ticket before you enter.
- Every competition can be entered free by post, with the same chances as a paid ticket. See free postal entry.
Keep reading
- What the ASA has ruled on UK competition sites
- Are online prize draws legit?
- Cash alternatives explained
- Instant win vs end draw
- How a provably fair draw works
Last checked 12 October 2026.
Hoardsy
See the competitions
Choose a draw or an instant game. Every prize and its chance is on the page before you enter.
18+, Great Britain only. Free postal entry on every competition.
