> How instant win competitions work in the UK: how prizes are allocated to ticket numbers, how the odds move, and how to tell whether one is genuinely random. Where Grand Draws stands. 18+, Great Britain. Source page: https://granddraws.co.uk/instant-wins Instant wins # Instant win competitions, explained **An instant win competition attaches prizes to specific ticket numbers before entry opens, so a winning ticket pays out the moment it is bought rather than at a draw.** Grand Draws runs two: a [free weekly instant win game](https://granddraws.co.uk/free-instant-wins) with no purchase and no card, and a paid instant win board. Our cash prize draws are separate, and are each decided by a published draw on the closing date. 18+, Great Britain. ## Play now - Free to play ### [Free Instant Win](https://granddraws.co.uk/free-instant-wins) No purchase, no card - **£50** top prize - **1 in 172** numbers win something - **58** prizes across 10,000 numbers - Paid board ### [£100 Instant Wins](https://granddraws.co.uk/competitions/instant-win-100) From 11p a number - **£100** top prize - **1 in 48** numbers win something - **208** prizes across 10,000 numbers Prizes are attached to numbers before entry opens, and the placement is published afterwards so anyone can check it. Most numbers win nothing. [Play the free instant win](https://granddraws.co.uk/free-instant-wins) [See the competitions](https://granddraws.co.uk/competitions) ## How an instant win competition works Three things happen in order. The operator decides the prizes and attaches each one to a ticket number. Entry opens and tickets are sold. As each ticket is issued its number is checked against the list, and a match pays out immediately. That ordering is the whole format, and it is also where the trust question sits. Because the allocation is made before anyone enters, nobody buying a ticket can influence it. Because it is settled privately between one entrant and the site, nobody buying a ticket can see it either, unless the operator publishes proof. ## How instant win odds actually work Your chance on any single ticket is the number of prizes still unclaimed divided by the number of tickets still unsold. Both numbers move while a competition runs, which is why the odds on an instant win are not fixed the way a main draw's are. Two consequences worth knowing. Prizes already won come out of the pool, so a competition that has paid out most of its instant prizes offers worse odds on them than it did at launch. And tickets already sold come out of the other side, so the two effects do not simply cancel. A site worth entering publishes how many of each prize remain. ## Instant wins compared with a main draw **Timing.** An instant win is settled when you enter. A main draw is settled on the closing date. **Odds.** Instant-win odds are prizes remaining over tickets remaining, so they move as a competition sells. Main-draw odds are your tickets over the total entered. **What you can check.** This is the real difference. A main draw can be published and recomputed after the event by anyone who wants to. An instant win can only be rechecked if the allocation was committed to beforehand and published afterwards, and most of the time it is not. ## Where we stand Plainly: we run a [free weekly game](https://granddraws.co.uk/free-instant-wins), one play a person a week, no purchase and no card, and one paid instant win board. Both publish their full prize ladder and their odds before entry opens, and both commit to the placement in advance so it can be checked afterwards. We would rather add boards slowly than widely, which is why there is one. It holds to the same standard as our main draws, which is what took the time: the allocation is committed to before entry opens so it can be rechecked afterwards, the number of each prize remaining is published, and the free game is free for everyone rather than a paid game with a free door on the side. [How our draws work](https://granddraws.co.uk/draws) sets out the method we already use, and [verify a draw](https://granddraws.co.uk/draw-check) lets you run the check on a real one. ## The free daily game is not an instant win There is a free game on this site, and it is worth being precise about what it is not. It is free to play, it cannot be bought, and playing it is not an entry into any competition. Paid entries earn nothing towards it. In the meantime, [the competitions](https://granddraws.co.uk/competitions) are all free to enter by post on the same odds as a paid ticket. [The free entry route](https://granddraws.co.uk/free-entry) explains how. ## Common questions **Does Grand Draws have instant win competitions?** Grand Draws runs two: a free weekly instant win game with no purchase and no card, at /free-instant-wins, and a paid instant win board where numbers are bought in bundles. Our cash prize draws are separate and are each decided by a published draw on the closing date. In every case prizes are attached to entry numbers before the game opens, so the result is settled before the reveal. **What is an instant win competition?** Prizes are attached to specific ticket numbers before entry opens. When you enter, your numbers are checked immediately: match a hidden prize and you win it there and then, rather than waiting for a draw on the closing date. The format also goes by scratch reveals and hidden ticket prizes. **How are instant win prizes allocated?** Before entry opens, the operator assigns each prize to a ticket number, normally at random. Entering buys you the chance that one of your numbers is on that list. Because the allocation happens first, the odds of any single ticket are the number of prizes left divided by the number of tickets left, which moves as a competition sells. **Are instant win games random?** They should be, and the honest test is whether you can check. A main draw can be published and recomputed after the event. An instant win is settled privately at the moment of entry, so it can only be rechecked if the whole allocation was committed to before entry opened and published afterwards. Ask any site whether it does that. **Can you win instantly for free?** Only where a competition offers a free entry route that is treated identically to a paid ticket. Our free postal route always receives the same number of entries and exactly the same chance as a paid entry, and if we add instant wins a postal entry will hold real ticket numbers from the same pool on the same basis. **What does Grand Draws run today?** Two things. Paid prize competitions with a single published draw: you answer a skill question, enter, and every ticket goes into one draw that runs at 9pm on the closing date, sold out or not, by a method anyone can recompute afterwards at our draw checker. And one free instant win game a week, which needs no purchase and no card and settles the moment you play. --- Grand Draws is a UK skill-based prize competition operator. It is not a casino, not a lottery and not gambling. Every competition requires a correct answer to a genuine skill question and offers a free postal entry route on the same odds. 18+, UK residents only. Please enter within your means.