Are Prize Competitions Legal in the UK? The Rules That Apply

Yes. A paid prize competition is legal in the UK if it offers a genuine free way to enter or a test of skill hard enough to matter. That decides whether it can exist at all. How it's run is governed by four other sets of rules, and one big gap.

By Joanne Jones · Last reviewed 9 October 2026

Full disclosure: we run a competition site, so the rules below apply to us.

This covers the law in Great Britain: England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland has separate gambling legislation.

The law that decides whether it's allowed

The Gambling Act 2005 is the starting point. Section 14 says something is a lottery if you pay to take part and the prize is given out by a process that relies wholly on chance. Running a lottery without a licence or an exemption is an offence.

A paid competition gets outside the lottery definition in one of two main ways: provide a genuine free entry route, or make skill, judgment or knowledge significant enough to meet the statutory test. Is a raffle gambling? covers the lottery side in full. Here's what each way out actually requires.

Free entry. Schedule 2, paragraph 8 sets four conditions. Every entrant must be able to choose between paying and sending a free entry. The free route can be a letter by ordinary post, or any other method that's no more expensive and no less convenient than paying. The choice has to be publicised so people deciding whether to enter can see it. And the draw has to treat free and paid entries the same way.

Skill. Section 14(5) treats a skill question as pure chance unless it can reasonably be expected to stop a significant proportion of people from entering, or a significant proportion of entrants from winning. The Gambling Commission says simple multiple-choice questions rarely meet that threshold. That is why many paid competition sites also offer a free entry route, so they are not relying on the question alone to stay outside lottery law.

How it has to be advertised

Once it's allowed to run, the way it's sold falls under the CAP Code, the advertising rulebook the Advertising Standards Authority enforces. Section 8 covers promotions, and its rules are specific:

• Promoters must run promotions "equitably, promptly and efficiently and be seen to deal fairly" (rule 8.2).
• Before you enter, they must tell you the significant conditions: how to enter, the closing date, the number and nature of the prizes, any restrictions such as age, and their full name and address (rule 8.17 and its sub-rules).
• Closing dates must not be changed unless unavoidable circumstances make it necessary (rule 8.17.4.e).
• Prizes must be awarded as described, normally within 30 days (rule 8.15.1).
• Draws must award prizes in line with the laws of chance, using a verifiably random computer process or an independent person (rule 8.24).
• Promoters must publish or make available the surname and county of major winners (rule 8.28.5).

The ASA cannot award you a refund. It can rule that a promotion broke the Code and require the promoter to change it.

What you're owed once you've paid

The competition's terms form part of the contract between you and the operator. If they do not deliver what the terms promise, that is a breach. You can claim for it. Consumer contract terms must also comply with the Consumer Rights Act 2015, including its rules on fairness and transparency.

Separate rules govern how competitions are marketed and sold. Since 6 April 2025, Part 4 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 has banned unfair commercial practices, replacing the old 2008 regulations. A misleading description of a prize, hidden costs or a fake countdown can all fall foul of it, and the Competition and Markets Authority can now fine a business up to 10% of its global turnover without going to court first.

Your details

Entering a competition means handing over your personal details. UK GDPR governs how that's used. Entering does not by itself give the operator permission to use your details for marketing. Where it relies on your consent for that, the consent must be a separate, freely given choice. You can refuse it and still enter.

If a site keeps emailing you after you've opted out, the Information Commissioner's Office handles complaints.

Age

There's no general statutory minimum age for entering a genuine free draw or prize competition in Great Britain, equivalent to the minimum-age rules for regulated gambling. In practice almost every operator restricts entry to over-18s in its terms, and the CAP Code requires any age restriction to be stated before you enter. The voluntary code below goes further: signatories should only offer draws to over-18s, check age, and not aim adverts at anyone younger (clause 1.1).

The voluntary code

In November 2025 the government published a voluntary code of good practice for prize draw operators, which signatories had to implement in full by 20 May 2026. It covers free entry, how draws are run, information on your chances of winning, prize delivery and responsible play.

It's voluntary. It isn't a licensing regime either. DCMS has oversight of the code, but signatories are not regulated the way licensed gambling operators are. The government publishes the list of who has signed: you can check any site against it in a minute.

What no law covers

The rules above cover whether a competition is lawful and what the operator owes you. None of them caps how many tickets a competition can sell, sets a ticket price, requires the ticket total to be published, or puts anyone in charge of checking draws.

Those decide whether a competition is a reasonable punt. They have the least law behind them. The voluntary code asks signatories to give you information about your chances before you enter. Nothing makes anyone sign it.

When something goes wrong

Your problem	Start here	Then	What they can do
Prize not sent	The operator, in writing, quoting their terms	Your card issuer, if you paid by card	The operator owes you the prize under its terms. Your card issuer may be able to recover the payment through chargeback. Time limits apply, commonly 120 days depending on when the problem arose, so contact the issuer promptly
Terms or closing date changed after you entered	The operator	The ASA	The ASA can rule the promotion broke the CAP Code
Misleading prize description or odds	The operator	The ASA, and Trading Standards via Citizens Advice	The ASA can require changes. Trading Standards can take a business to court, but won't get you a refund
The draw looked wrong	Ask the operator for evidence the draw was valid	The ASA	The CAP Code expects promoters to be able to show a valid award took place
A paid draw with no free entry route	The Gambling Commission		It acts when a competition is being run as an illegal lottery
Marketing you didn't agree to	The operator	The ICO	The ICO can take action on misuse of your data
The operator has gone under	Check the company on Companies House and find the administrator or liquidator	Your card issuer, and register what you're owed with the insolvency practitioner	Chargeback, or Section 75 on a credit card purchase over £100, may recover your payment in some cases. Otherwise you can register as a creditor, but repayment isn't guaranteed
The prize never existed	Action Fraud	Your bank	Fraud, not a consumer dispute

None of this is legal advice. For a large prize or a complicated dispute, Citizens Advice is the free place to start.

How NetCompetitions handles this

We offer a free postal route on every competition, with the same chance of winning as a paid entry, linked from each competition page. We publish the total ticket count before you enter, and every draw goes ahead whether or not every ticket sells. Our draw fairness page explains how winners are picked, and you can read how it works in full.

We are not on the voluntary code's list yet. We're working through the process of joining, and this page will say so the day we are.

The bottom line

Prize competitions and free draws are legal because the Gambling Act expressly excludes arrangements that meet the free-entry or genuine-skill requirements from the lottery regime. The rules governing what happens after that are real. They're also patchy. The law protects you on how a competition is advertised and whether you get what you were promised. It does almost nothing about the numbers that decide whether it's worth entering, so check those yourself before you pay.