Pay To Enter Prize Draw Sites such as McKinney Competitions, Bounty Competitions, Elite Competitions, Lucky Day Competitions and Jammy have become well established destinations for prizes. Their success has also meant that countless other brands have jumped on the bandwagon and now you can find sites dedicated to winning anything from fishing gear to campervans, football tickets to tractors and kitchen gear to guitars! But what are these so called competitions site - or raffle sites - all about? How do they work? Are they a scam? What do you need to do if you want to run one? Our FAQ tries to cover all you need to know about this area of comping.

What Is A Pay To Enter Prize Draw Site?

A pay to enter prize draw site is one that runs prize draws but you have to spend money in order to participate. They're often known as competition sites or raffle sites as when they first launched you purchased a ticket to enter the draw. They mainly work by offering a prize and a fixed number of tickets that are available at a set price. For example you might have the chance to win £1000 in a draw that has 2000 tickets at £1 each. By setting a ticket target you know the maximum number of entries so therefore your odds of winning. Some sites, e.g. Omaze, won't have a maximum number of tickets.

What Prizes Can I Win?

You name it then you can probably win it via a pay to enter prize draw. Head to our Win A House section for property raffles. Big name brands like McKinney, Bounty and Elite feature everything from holiday homes, property, holidays, cars, cash and tech. These platforms are not afraid to dish out life changing cash prizes. Smaller sites like to focus on specific items (although there is always room for other prizes). Carp Gear Giveaways (Fishing), Golf Star Competitions (Golf), Vanny Campers (Camper Vans), Football Prizes (Football), In The Kitchen Draw (Kitchen Items), Guitar Gear Giveaway (Guitars) and Agrigiveaways (Agricultural Prizes) are just some of the sites we've come across online.

How Many Different Raffle Style Competition Sites Are There?

We currently feature just a handful of pay to enter prize draw sites. Our aim is to try and only add sites that appear to be well established! However there are literally 100s more of these kind of sites active. Early in 2025 we databased over 350 different sites whilst investigating responsible play content. The sites are spread over multiple different platforms too. Zap Competitions, a recommended platform, for example power over 30 different brands with it's platform including 7 Days Performance, Carp Gear, Win Vans, Bright Competitions and Giveaway Life. If you drop in on Trust Pilot there are reviews for a large number of sites with new ones coming on board all the time. Visit one of these sites and you're guaranteed to see adverts for even more raffle sites the next time you drop in to Facebook or Instagram.

What Are The Best Competition Sites?

The best competition site is usually the one that you win on! In truth it's a difficult question but we think the more established brands like Rev Comps, Elite Competitions, Bounty Competitions, Bear Competitions, Nitrous Competitions, 7 Days Performance, Vortex Competitions and That Prize Guy amongst others are the best options. However as mentioned above there are sites for specific prizes plus many sites focus on their own area/community which also helps sway views on the best. These sites also attract a large number of players and/or big money players which makes winning harder. So some entrants may well prefer smaller brands because the odds are more in their favour.

I Bought A Ticket! What Next?

After you've purchase a ticket then it's simply a case of sit and wait for the draw. A site should indicate when their draw is closing, when it will be drawn and how many tickets have been sold and/or remain. Once a competition has either sold out or has reached the closing date then the winner will be drawn. This is usually done via a live stream on social media for transparency. A lot of sites use Google's Random Number Generator to select winners but other sites, for example Elite Competitions, use their own lottery number style machines. If you're selected as a winner then the site should get in touch with you ASAP to confirm your win.

What Are Instant Wins?

Competition sites have become a lot more elaborate in recent times. To encourage entrants to purchase more tickets they sometimes offer instant wins. These are additional prizes to the main prize which can be won - instantly - when you purchase a ticket. Allocation of prizes should be random but quite often you'll see that the percentage of instant win prizes won equate to the percentage of tickets sold. As well as instant wins you may see bonus ball or spin to win elements mixed into the prize draw. These are extras to spice up the promotion.

Can I Enter Pay To Enter Prize Draws For Free?

In most cases you can get free entries but note that these will be usually only be postal entries and you'll need to pay for stamps and postcards. If you send in a postcard entry to a pay to enter prize draw then your entry should be treated the same as a paid entry. Is it worth entering by post? If the entry price is <£2 then it's probably not the cost or time - you may as well enter online and pay. For more expensive prize draws it might be worth a shot but we've never known any of the competitions being run by the sites listed being won by a postal entry! On a positive note a lot of the sites will run free prize draws, sometimes via social media, offering credit as a prize and these are worth a dabble. You can find some listed on Loquax. Overall our advice is if you're not sure about these kind of sites then leave them alone. If you are curious then select a well known and established brand rather than one of the many new sites that keep popping up.

New Sites! Should I Spend Money At Them?

This sector of comping is constantly expanding and new sites are appearing all the time. Our advice is to perhaps hold on before jumping straight into spending money on any new (or indeed established) pay to enter prize draw site. You should check that they have a business address visible on site and have contact details. Visit the site a few times over a week and see whether ticket sales are moving. Be wary if you see huge jumps in sales and/or prizes that are huge compared to the size of site. Look out for how they choose winners too. Is it 100% transparent? If not then stay away.

What Are Your Top Tips?

If you're going to spend money at a site then remember to play only what you can afford to lose. Treat these sites like you would bingo, slots, sportsbook etc. If those sites aren't for you then maybe leave raffle sites alone as they can be addictive. We suggest established brands like Bounty, Elite, Bear, That Prize Guy, 7 Days and Dream Cars GIveaways are the better options, especially for newbies. Most draws start off with early bird discounts but prices can be cut as closing dates near, so use this to your advantage to save money and avoid paying full ticket prices. Follow social media channels for the chance to win tickets or pick up discounts.

Are These Competition Sites A Scam?

On the surface some of these competition sites look great but are they all playing fair? Like free prize draws you hope that the promoter is doing everything above board and total transparency but sadly there are bad apples in the sector. The good news is that quite often they get outed. For example we have blogged about a site that skewed the number of tickets sold and another we found to be acting in a strange manner. In short they're either faking winners and ticket sales or they're losing a shedload of cash! From Facebook groups we've seen suggestions of siteowners faking winners too as well as manipulating the competition set-up. There are also question marks about transparency, whether sites treat postal entries correctly and if they're actually running things within CAP/ASA guidelines. These may well be isolated episodes but they serve as a lesson. Before you consider spending anything on a competition site make sure you do your due diligence. Check out reviews, look at their social media, see if they run lives. You may also want to check out Scam Watch on Facebook.

Are Pay To Enter Prize Draws Gambling?

These kind of sites fall into a grey area between gambling, such as bingo and slots, and free prize draws. Many sites will clearly state that they're not gambling yet will use gambling terms and images - e.g slots, spin to win, casino - as a hook to grab attention. If you're spending money on a prize draw with a limited number of tickets then essentially you are gambling your cash on you winning at those fixed odds. Pay to enter sites including win a house competitions are not overseen by The UK Gambling Commission. Owners don't need to be licensed either or worry about responsible play, anti-money laundering etc. Yet they all involve spending money and can be equally addictive as traditional gambling. We have included Gamble Aware notices on Loquax but you will find many of these sites don't even touch on responsible play. Our advice is that you treat the sites like you would any brand that offers bingo, slots or sportsbook gambling.

Blocking Competition Sites

Playing on competition sites can be addictive and expensive. If you're experiencing problems with your spending on a site then there are options. Responsible sites should allow you to set deposit limits, take a time-out or cooling off period, or self-exclude so that you can't play. If you need to go further than sites such as Betblocker and Gamstop can help limit access to competition sites. Although they're designed for bingo, slots and sportsbook brands they also include most competition sites. Your bank may also be able to help you block payments to certain sites. For more support please contact .

How Do I Start My Own Competition Raffle Site?

If you're thinking of starting your own site then sadly we're unable to help you. If you know how to work with Wordpress then there are plugins available which enable you to set-up a site quite easily although you'll need to think about branding, marketing and payment gateaways. A number of agencies are available who have experience with setting up competition sites. Zap as mentioned above have a good track record. Other options include Zap Competitions, Right Global, Embark Studio, Visionary Hubspace, Hilton Web Design, Getty Web Designs and Think Digital Marketing. Note that a link doesn't imply endorsement. Occasionally you may spot competition sites for sale on eBay but our advice is to avoid these under the umbrella of "if it's too good to be true".

Any Other Advice About Starting A Site?

For every McKinney, Bounty and 7 Days Performance there are countless others that fall by the wayside. Even Mecca Bingo couldn't manage to make their Mecca Raffles a success. They key to success definitely seems to be having an active, solvent and engaged audience - especially on social media - so that each guaranteed prize draw sells sufficient tickets as fast as possible. Getting that involves a lot of time, effort and money especially when it comes to marketing. We recently saw one brand state they spend thousands each month on Facebook Ads alone! Many new comers to the sector automatically assume the build it and they will come theory. Others wrongly think that people who love free prize draws - like a good proportion of our users - will instantly want to start spending £££s every day. Our advice is to research how sites work and cherry pick the best elements.

Submit Your Site For Review

If you've run a low odds, pay to enter, prize draw site and want to be featured in our review section on Loquax then please get in touch. If you can offer us an affiliate deal (commission for sales for example) then that's even better. We do allow some posts to our competition listings but only within specific guidelines and limitations. The reviews and information here are provided for reference only.