Frequently asked questions

No. Under the Gambling Act 2005, a competition that turns on a genuine skill question, or that offers a free entry route of equal standing, is a prize competition rather than a lottery, so it needs no gambling licence. Every paid Grand Draws competition has both: a skill question you must answer correctly for your entry to qualify, and a free postal route with exactly the same chance of winning as a paid ticket. Our guide to the rules explains it in full.

Yes. You must be 18 or over and resident in Great Britain (England, Wales or Scotland) to enter a paid competition. Our October launch draw was advertised to UK residents and stayed open to Northern Ireland too.

It varies by competition. Paid tickets start from 9p each, bought in minimum orders of 25. If you would rather not pay, every competition can be entered free by post, with exactly the same chance of winning.

It is still drawn on its closing date at 9pm and the full prize is awarded. We never cancel, postpone or shrink a draw because of low sales.

Once a competition closes, the winning ticket is selected at random from all qualifying entries, in accordance with the laws of chance, by a provably-fair method that runs automatically at 9pm on the closing date. The randomness comes from drand, an independent public beacon nobody can predict, and both our commitment and the beacon round the draw will use are published before the competition closes. Draws are published rather than streamed, so you never have to take our word for any of it: we contact the winner directly, publish the result in the winners archive, and anyone can recompute and check any result at /draw-check.

Cash, every time. Prizes are tax-free, because a UK competition prize is a windfall rather than income (our tax guide explains, with links to HMRC), there is nothing to ship and no voucher to redeem. The amount shown on the competition is the amount that reaches the winner’s bank.

We contact the winner directly after the draw, confirm their identity and age, and transfer the cash straight to their UK bank account. We aim to pay within one working day of verifying the winner.