Trust indicator
Established Website
A competition website that has run for years has a record of draws completed and prizes delivered.
What it is
We look at how long the competition website has been running, from the date its domain name was registered (from the public registry record, known as RDAP). This sits alongside Established Company, which looks at how long the company behind the site has existed. We score the two separately because a long-standing company can launch a brand-new competition site, and a new company can take over a site that has run for years.
Why we track it
Running prize competitions well is its own skill: selling tickets responsibly, drawing on time, delivering prizes and dealing with winners and complaints. A website that has done this for years has a history entrants can look back on, through its past winners, its reviews and its social media, and it has had time to show it completes its draws. A site launched a few months ago has not yet had the chance to build that record, however well established the company behind it may be.
How to earn it
- This is earned over time; there is no shortcut beyond continuing to run competitions on the same website.
- If you moved your competitions to a new domain, tell us the old one and when you made the switch, so we can take your earlier history into account.
- If we have the wrong registration date on file, request a re-evaluation.
This is one of several weighted indicators behind a site's letter grade (A+ to F). We don't publish the exact points or thresholds, but earning more indicators — and avoiding hostile T&C clauses — moves a site up the scale. See the full method on our How We Rate page.
Our ratings are based on publicly observable criteria and data analysis. This is not a guarantee of legitimacy, prize fulfilment, or financial security. We are not affiliated with any competition site. Always do your own research before entering competitions or spending money.