Most UK competition sites are legitimate. The risk sits with a small number of newer or unverifiable ones, and the checks below catch almost all of them. The shortcut: CompWatch already runs them across the 418 sites we track and turns them into a single trust grade.
Start here: the good news
The market has professionalised a great deal. Established operators tend to have registered companies, published winners and thousands of genuine reviews behind them. The risk is concentrated in a smaller number of newer, unverifiable or outright fraudulent sites, and a five-minute check will catch nearly all of them.
If a site isn't graded on CompWatch, run through the seven checks below before you spend anything.
Seven warning signs
Any one of these on its own is a reason to slow down.
No registered UK company
Any business taking payments from UK consumers should be registered at Companies House. Look for an 8-digit company number in the footer, About page or terms, then check it free at Companies House. A company formed last month with no accounts and anonymous directors deserves caution.
Hidden odds and ticket numbers
A trustworthy operator shows how many tickets exist and how many have sold. Sites that hide the total make your real odds unknowable. Beware, too, of "current odds" shown as final, because most draws sell many more tickets before closing (see how odds work).
No free entry route
By law a paid competition must offer a genuine free route (usually postal) to avoid being an unlicensed lottery. No free route mentioned anywhere in the terms is a legal red flag. Our free postal entry guide explains how it should work.
No evidence of real winners
Reputable operators publish winners: photos, videos, or named confirmation that real people collected real prizes. Search the site name on Facebook and YouTube first. No winner content anywhere, despite big claims, is implausible.
Vague, missing or hostile terms
Good terms cover the draw, what happens if too few tickets sell, the cash alternative, the free route and complaints. Watch for buried hostile clauses too. See our guide to hostile T&Cs.
Pressure tactics and fake urgency
Legitimate operators let competitions run on their merits. Be wary of countdowns claiming tickets are "almost gone" minutes after launch, vanishing discount pop-ups, or social ads implying you've already "won". That last one is almost always a scam.
Unusual payment methods
Reputable sites take debit/credit card, PayPal and wallets, all of which carry chargeback protection. Requests for bank transfer, crypto, or gift cards make your money almost impossible to recover if something goes wrong.
The quickest check of all
Every site we track is scored against a set of indicators (company longevity, published odds, free entry, published winners, secure payments, independent certification and more) and given a letter grade:
A site rated D or F isn't necessarily a scam, but it's failing several of the checks above, and that's worth knowing first. See the grade and the indicators behind it on any site's page, or read how we rate.
What a trustworthy operator looks like
- A registered UK company with named directors
- Published ticket numbers, so odds are knowable
- A clear free entry route with a real UK address
- Published winners, with photos or video
- Clear terms, and no hostile clauses
- Standard card or wallet payments only
Check a site before you enter
We've already run these checks on the sites we track and turned them into a single trust grade. Look up any operator's score, the indicators behind it, and its live competitions.
Browse site trust scores →