Is it worth entering competitions with the free entry method?
As you may have noticed, some competition websites (the ones that don’t force you to answer a question or play spot the ball before buying a ticket) have a link on their website to a free entry method. This free entry method is most commonly a postal route. As discussed in our other blog post about the free prize draws, this has more to do with being somewhat compliant with the Gambling Commission’s guidelines* and avoiding having to be a licensed operator in the UK with all the headaches and rules that go into running a gambling business. In reality it has very little to do with you being able to take part in the competition for free.
So, is it worth taking the time to enter these competitions for free?
The short answer
No. It is not. We don’t recommend bothering to take part in the competitions with the free entry routes. The only exception would be unless the competition is running a free competition that’s being drawn by the same system on the website (instead of a postal entry).
The long answer
It is not, but below are just a few reasons why.
- Reason 1: If the free entry route is a postal one, it’s usually a lot cheaper and more convenient for you to just buy a normal ticket. When you factor in the cost of a stamp, envelope, paper, and if you value your own time at all and add that to the cost… Suddenly the ‘free’ entry route doesn’t seem free at all.
- Reason 2: It is highly likely that the postal entries will never be entered into any draw. While there may be some competitions that are doing everything properly and taking the postal entries into account, the more realistic expectation is that your envelope will just end up in the bin the moment it reaches its destination. That is, if it reaches the competition at all! At least when you purchase an entry ticket directly, you’ll be able to get a confirmation instantly with your ticket number.
- Reason 3: Even if your free postal entry would be included in a hypothetical final draw, your free entry will most definitely be missing out on instant win prizes quite commonly included in such competitions, that will have a ticket number assigned to them that can only be won by purchasing a ticket through the competition website.
- Reason 4: Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that the prizes are even given out – especially if there is a giveaway or a draw that is completely free to enter! This is applicable not to just competitions… But everything you can enter for a chance to win something. As a small personal note: I’ve worked for businesses that actively do raffles and giveaways to collect emails and so on; and as an example one of the suggestions I heard by the senior people in the business was “Let’s just give out iPads or something, but never give any out! Nobody will know! We’ve been doing this at X and it’s worked like a charm!”. It didn’t take that long for me to hand in my notice as I have no urge to work for such people – I’ll tell you as much (this wasn’t the main reason, but part of the bigger picture).
Conclusion
Hopefully, it’s clear enough that by entering competitions through their free postal entry routes you are not just wasting your time and money, but you are also very unlikely to ever win anything. The cheapest and most likely method of winning a competition is just to enter normally and buy a few cheap tickets instead.
If you are looking for a completely free way of winning something, we’d recommend giving your personal details to marketing raffles instead that aren’t trying to raise money, but instead steal your personal data so they can bombard you with emails and phone calls. You may have 20 new emails in your inbox every day if you do, but at least then you would have had a genuine chance of winning something for free. (Well, not exactly for free still – but as ‘free’ as it will get!)
Finally, if you are looking for the best legitimate competitions that you can enter, please check out our recommendations.
* Gambling Commission’s guidelines about free draws:
If you run a free draw with a paid entry route, you must make sure that:
- people can choose to take part without paying
- the free entry route can be no more expensive and must be no less convenient than the paid route
- the free entry route must also be available at the normal rate. For example, you cannot use special delivery in the free route and First Class in the paid route
- the free entry route must be promoted and displayed at the same level as the paid for routes
- the choice between the free entry route and the paid entry route must be promoted so that people who want to participate can see it
- the system that determines prizes should not recognise the two routes as different.
