Fair and checkable
How draws are run
Every draw is run the same way, in the same order. The list of tickets is locked before anyone is picked, and once the draw has run, anyone can check that the list did not change and that the winning ticket was on it.
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1. Every entry is a numbered ticket
A ticket you buy and a ticket you get free by post are both numbered tickets in the same draw. They have the same chance. A draw has a set maximum number of tickets. Free entry by post.
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2. The draw closes and the tickets are locked
When the draw closes there is a short grace period for payments already under way. Then the system takes every ticket that counts, paid and free. A ticket that was refunded does not count, and its number is shown on the draw's checking page as left out.
From that list the system makes a second list: each ticket number next to a reference. The reference is a scrambled code made from the holder's account and a secret kept for that draw alone. It contains no name, email address or account number, and the secret is never published, so nobody can turn a reference back into a person.
The whole list is then boiled down to one fingerprint (a SHA-256 hash). Change a single ticket and the fingerprint changes. The fingerprint is shown on the draw's checking page before the draw runs, and the system will not run a draw that has no fingerprint.
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3. Two people run the draw
A member of staff with permission to run draws runs it, and a different member of staff with the same permission has to approve it. One person cannot do both. Both are recorded.
The winning number is entered by the person running the draw. Our software does not make it up: it only accepts a number between 1 and the number of tickets that counted. The system then goes down the tickets in number order and takes the one in that place, so the winner is always a real ticket that counted and never a refunded one. The draw is made from the tickets entered, whatever has sold. There is no minimum.
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4. The full list is published with the result
Once the draw has run, its checking page shows the winning ticket and the fingerprint, and the full list of ticket numbers and references can be downloaded. It is published after the result and not before, so the list is locked when the draw is made but nobody can read ahead of it.
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5. You can check it yourself
Download the list from the draw's checking page and run our small checking program on it, giving it the fingerprint and the winning number shown on that page. It works out the fingerprint again from the list and tells you whether it matches the one you gave it, and whether the winning number is on the list. If you give it only the list, it prints the fingerprint it worked out and it is for you to compare that with the published one.
Check a result Download the checking program All results
If you entered, your own ticket numbers are in your account under entries, so you can see them on the list.
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6. The winner is checked before being paid
Every winner, on every prize and by either route, has their identity and age (18 or over) checked before the prize is paid or sent.
What the check does and does not show
It shows that the list of tickets did not change between close and the draw, and that the winning ticket was on it. It cannot, by itself, show how the winning number was chosen, because that number is entered by the person running the draw. That is why two people have to be involved, and why the number and the list are both published.
A second method
The system can also run a draw a second way, and a draw uses it only if its own page says so. A secret number is created before sales open and its fingerprint is published. The source of the public figure to be used on the day is named before sales open. The winner is then worked out from the secret number and that figure, so nobody enters anything. The program for checking this method is not yet available to download from this site.
This page is one of the measures listed on our page of measures under the Government code for prize draw operators.