How PrizeCrate works
From picking your first ticket to verifying the draw — everything you need to know, with no small print surprises.
Pick a competition and your tickets
Browse what's live, choose how many tickets you want, and either pick your own numbers or take a lucky dip. Ticket numbers run from 1 up to the competition maximum, and every number can only be sold once.
Answer the skill question
At checkout you'll face a multiple-choice question. Get it right and your entry stands; get it wrong and you cannot proceed to payment. This skill requirement is what makes PrizeCrate a prize competition under UK law, not a lottery.
The draw runs automatically
When the countdown hits zero, the draw runs from a seed whose hash was published before the close. The winning ticket is computed, the winner is contacted immediately, and the full proof is published so anyone can verify it.
Ticket numbers, explained
Every competition has a fixed number of tickets, numbered 1 to the maximum. Your ticket numbers are yours alone — once a number is allocated it can never be sold again in that competition. You’ll see your exact numbers in your order confirmation and in your account, so when the draw runs you know precisely which entries are yours.
Lucky dip vs pick-your-own
Lucky dip assigns you random free numbers from whatever is left — quickest way in. Pick-your-ownlets you choose specific numbers, handy if you’re chasing a particular instant-win number or just have favourites. The odds in the main draw are identical either way: one ticket, one entry.
Instant wins
Some competitions carry instant-win ticket numbers, published on the competition page. If one of your allocated numbers matches an unclaimed instant-win number, you win that prize on the spot — before the main draw even happens. Cash instant wins are credited to your PrizeCrate wallet immediately and can be withdrawn or spent on more entries. Winning an instant win never removes you from the main draw.
When draws happen
Each competition shows a countdown to its close. Draws run automatically at the closing time, or as soon as a competition sells out if that happens first. There are no rollovers and no extensions to squeeze out extra sales — when the timer says it closes, it closes. The winner is notified by email straight away and results appear on the winners page with full proof.
Cash alternatives
Most physical prizes carry a cash alternative, shown on the competition page. If you win, you choose: take the prize or take the cash. There’s no pressure either way and no penalty for choosing cash — some winners want the car, some want the money. Cash alternatives are paid by bank transfer within 14 days of confirming your details.
Delivery of prizes
Physical prizes are delivered free of charge anywhere in the UK, arranged with you after the draw. Vehicles are handed over with all documentation; tech and luxury goods are shipped insured and signed-for. Holidays are booked with you directly to fit your dates. Cash prizes and cash alternatives go by bank transfer. We aim to have every prize with its winner within 28 days of the draw, and most arrive much sooner.
Free entry route
Every competition can be entered free by first-class post. Postal entries go into exactly the same draw with exactly the same odds as paid entries — one postcard, one entry. See the free entry route page for the address and what to include.
The draw you can check yourself
Most competition sites ask you to trust a random number generator you can’t see, or a livestream you have to take at face value. We do it differently, with a commit-and-reveal scheme borrowed from cryptography:
- Commit. Before a competition closes, we generate a secret random seed and publish its sha256 hash on the competition page. A hash is a one-way fingerprint: it proves the seed existed and was fixed, without revealing it.
- Close. Entries close. The final list of entries — paid and postal — is sorted by ticket number. Nobody, including us, can add or remove entries without it showing.
- Reveal and draw. The seed is revealed and the winner is computed as sha256(seed:entryCount) taken as a number, modulo the entry count. That index points at exactly one ticket.
- Verify. You can hash the revealed seed and confirm it matches the pre-published hash, then recompute the winning index yourself. If the numbers match, the draw was fair — no trust required.
Every winner’s proof — seed hash, seed, entry count, winning index and ticket number — is published permanently on the winners page.