A prize draw is a competition where you enter for a chance at a prize and a winner is picked at a set time. Here’s how they work in Great Britain, and what to look at before you buy a ticket.
The basics
Each ticket or entry is one chance. A competition has a prize, a ticket price, a limit on how many tickets can be sold and a closing time. After it closes, a winner is picked from every valid entry. Some competitions also pay instant prizes: a public number published at least a second after confirmation decides the result, and the animation shows it.
Why a free way in matters
When a prize is won by chance, sites that charge for tickets are expected to offer a free route that gives the same chance as a paid ticket. In practice that is a postal entry. If a site hides its free route, or makes it harder to use than buying, treat that as a warning. This is a plain overview, not legal advice. How free postal entry works.
How a winner is picked
Look for a site that says how. The strongest set-up locks the list of entries first, then uses a public random number that nobody at the site controls, so the winner can be checked afterwards. “Picked live” with nothing to check is weaker.
What to check before you buy
- The closing time, and whether the site can move it.
- Whether a minimum number of sales has to be reached, and what happens if it isn’t.
- How many tickets there are in total, so you know your chance.
- The free entry route and where to send it.
- What the prizes add up to compared with what tickets bring in. What payback means.
- Age and location limits: Hoardsy is 18+ and Great Britain only.
The rules operators follow
Paid prize draws aren’t licensed like the National Lottery, but the ASA enforces the advertising code on every one, and since November 2025 operators can sign a government code: 18+ only, spend limits, clear free entry, published chances and verifiably random draws. See UK prize draw rules and the 2026 code and the ASA’s rulings against competition sites.
Weekly draws and competitions are different
A weekly draw such as The Birthday Draw offers one very large prize with a tiny chance per entry. A competition sells a fixed number of tickets for a named prize, so you can work out your chance. See The Birthday Draw vs prize competitions.
How Hoardsy runs its draws
Closing times are never extended for slow sales and there’s no minimum number of sales: every prize stands. Each competition page shows its prizes and your chance before you enter, and every result can be checked on Provably fair.
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.
