At the start of 2024 we wrote about the rise of pay to enter prize draw sites. In case you’re not aware these are sites where you have to pay to enter the giveaways. There are literally hundreds of them in existence ranging from the likes of Omaze, McKinney and Elite through to Jammy, Rev Comps, Bear and many many others. In the past they were (and to an extent still are) referred to as raffle sites because you purchased a ticket/entry and there was usually a limit on the number of entries. If you though that these sites may be a passing fad then that’s not the case. In fact they’re becoming more mainstream. For example 7 Days are advertising on TV whilst many brands have realised that the occasional free to enter prize draw really helps build an audience. However these free to enter draws pale into insignificance when compared to the latest developments within the sector. We all know that house prize draw platforms like Omaze, Raffle House and Tramway Path offer chances to win big, but now the pay to enter sites are looking in that direction too. But who else is offering you the chance to win a million and are these offers all what they seem?
Win A Million At BOTB
For a long period of time you could argue that BOTB (Best Of The Best) had the pay to enter sector all to themselves. Established many years ago, you might have seen their stands at airports offering the chance to win Supercars. That approach came online and they’ve been running popular skill based competitions ever since. However fast forward to 2024 and BOTB are battling the likes of McKinney, Omaze, Bounty and others including lotteries, bingo and slots for the “gaming pound”. That may explain why they’ve recently launched their biggest ever giveaway. Currently (February 2024) on site is the chance to win a cash prize up to £1million pound. Unlike their Dream Car competitions, this is a straight prize draw. To enter you need to select tickets to purchase, answer a question and then complete the transaction. On the Million Pound page there are four options: £100,000, £250,000, £500,000 and £1million. Ticket prizes range from 85p up to £9.95. You have until the end of the month to enter. The winner will be randomly selected from all correct entries on Friday 1st March. However as we understand the draw there’s only one prize on offer. So if the winner has purchased tickets to win £100,000 then the prize is £100K. There won’t then be winners for the other cash sums. In bingo terms this is a multi-stakes game where all players are in the pool but the prize they win is reflected by their stake.
Win £4Million At Raffle House
Raffle House have been part of the win a house sector for sometime now and have positioned themselves as an alternative to Omaze. Initially they offered entrants the chance to win properties but during 2023 they changed that approach and started to just offer large cash amounts starting at £2million. Unlike Tramway Path where the winner has to purchase a property, Raffle House’s millions can be spent on what you like. Raffle House do like to overlap their promotions so as one giveaway approaches closure another one opens. Their latest gives you the chance to win £4million. But (at time of writing) for £10 you can get 15 tickets for the closing £2million prize draw and 15 tickets for the new £4million draw. This 2-for-1 offer ends on the 25th February whilst the £4million draw is scheduled to close at the end of March. After that, canny entrants will definitely hold fire until the next promotion. The issue for entrants though is that the headlining prizes aren’t guaranteed to be won because the amounts dished out depend on ticket sales. If Raffle House don’t sell enough tickets then they’ll still create a winner but they maybe won’t create a millionaire. Winners are announced on the site except frustratingly no one is actually told the amounts that have been won.
Win A Million At Bounty Competitions
You’ll need to wait a while for this particular million pound prize draw. Bounty Competitions will be celebrating their fourth anniversary in April 2024 and as a marker of their success – and perhaps a marker to show just how big this particular industry has now become – they’re going to be creating their first millionaire. According to Press & Journal the owners, Calvin and Leanne Davidson, are gearing up to run their biggest ever giveaway. On offer will be £1m cash along with £20,000 to the winners’ chosen charity. Two runners up will have to make do with £10,000 each. What is good about this particular prize draw is that the prize will be guaranteed. In other words if they sell 1 ticket or 1million tickets then someone will win the headlined prize. The only thing we obviously don’t know at this point is the price point, but Bounty are usually quite good with respect to costs. McKinney tend to favour the big ticket tags but Bounty tend to be around the tenner mark for property prizes, for example. It’s definitely one to watch out for. Even if you’re not a fan of pay to enter prize draws there might be opportunities to win tickets on the brand’s social media.
Will There Be More?
Don’t expect to see a whole slew of pay to enter prize draw sites jumping on the million pound prize bandwagon. In fact out of the three above, only one is actually definitely going to make someone a millionaire. Another might do but that’s down to the luck of the draw whilst the other is dependent on ticket sales. However these kind of prize headlines do get noticed. People who previously might not have considered trying pay to enter prize draws may take a look whilst others might seem them as alternatives to Omaze. Most certainly there’s going to be a lot of jostling by the big players and the smaller guys too. On the flip side these kind of promotions surely can’t go unnoticed by The UK Gambling Commission. Now that they’ve pretty much kicked the wind out of more traditional forms of online play like bingo and slots then the fun police will start looking elsewhere. In some respects that’s not a bad thing in terms of problem gambling and wagering too much – will big money prizes tempt players to spend more for example. Additionally regulation could limit the number of sites active. However where does spending money to enter a competition end being OK (e.g. ITV competitions, purchase necessary giveaways etc). Perhaps this is why The UKGC are avoiding the pay to enter sector because it unearths a much bigger can of worms to deal with?