Prize competition websites, built properly

What does a competition website need?

A competition website needs to sell entries, enforce the rules of each competition, run a fair draw and publish the winners, while handling payments and personal data safely.

Varsuite builds competition sites with:

• Competition pages with prize galleries, countdowns and entries sold bars
• A basket and checkout for buying multiple entries in one go
• A skill question gate before paid entry, where your format uses one
• An admin tool for logging free postal entries alongside paid ones
• Per person entry caps and age checks at sign up
• Instant win tickets revealed at the point of entry
• Draw tools with an audit trail, and public winner pages
• Customer accounts showing tickets, results and order history

The checkout and account areas are built on the same foundations as our e-commerce stores, so buying entries feels as smooth as buying anything else online.

Are online prize competitions legal in the UK?

Prize competitions and free draws can run in Great Britain without a gambling licence, provided each one is set up so that it is not a lottery under the Gambling Act 2005.

In broad terms, a paid entry competition stays outside the lottery rules in one of two ways:

• Genuine skill, judgement or knowledge: the question or task must be hard enough to deter a significant proportion of people from entering, or to stop a significant proportion of entrants from winning. A trivial question is not enough.
• A free entry route: a free way to enter (commonly by post) that is publicised as clearly as the paid route and gives free entries exactly the same chance of winning.

In 2024 the Government also published a voluntary code of good practice for prize draw operators, covering areas such as age checks, fair treatment of free entries, clear terms, transparency about prizes and winners, and helping players keep control of what they spend. Northern Ireland has its own rules.

Varsuite builds the mechanics that support these structures, but we do not give legal advice. You should take your own legal advice on your terms, entry routes and promotion before you launch.

How do you make draws fair and provable?

Each draw picks a winner with a cryptographically secure random number generator and records an audit trail of the entries, the time of the draw and the winning ticket, so you can show exactly how a winner was chosen.

The fairness controls we build in include:

• Paid and free entries held in the same pool with the same chance of winning
• Entry caps per person, applied across paid and free routes
• A locked entry list at the close of each competition, before the draw runs
• A draw screen you can show on a live stream, with the result saved automatically
• Age checks at sign up, with stronger verification where you need it
• Winner pages that publish results in line with your terms

If anyone questions a result, the record is there to show them.

Which payment providers work with competition websites?

Many mainstream payment processors restrict or decline prize competition merchants, so Varsuite integrates with processors that explicitly support the sector and helps you prepare for their onboarding checks.

Approval is always the processor's decision, and each has its own requirements on terms, free entry routes and age checks. We build the site so that it is ready for those reviews, with clear terms, visible free entry details and a tidy checkout.

We can also add site credit for refunds, cash alternatives and returning customers, and connect sales data to your accounts through our data integrations work.

How much does a competition website cost?

The cost depends on the features and integrations you need, so Varsuite builds a free working demo first and then agrees a fixed quote before work starts.

The main factors are:

• The competition formats you run (skill, free draw, instant win, or a mix)
• How many payment and marketing integrations you need
• Live draw tooling, winner pages and customer accounts
• The admin and reporting your team needs day to day

You can click through your own competition page and checkout within days, before you commit. It usually costs less than people expect, and current guidance is on our pricing page.

How do you keep a competition site secure and running on draw night?

Every competition site quote includes a penetration test and a security code review before launch, and the site is tested for the traffic spikes that come as a countdown ends.

Competition sites handle payments and personal data and attract automated abuse, so we build in rate limiting, bot protection and secure admin access from the start. Load and journey testing through our Testing & QA service makes sure checkout holds up at the busiest moment, and security monitoring keeps watch after launch.

AI agents do the heavy lifting, and our UK team in Lancashire reviews, perfects and signs off every release, with automated tests from day one. Ongoing monthly care is available, and you own the site and its data.