Methodology

How we rate competition sites

We check every operator we track against 23 criteria grouped into four pillars. Each criterion is worth a fixed number of points, the points total 100, and the score an operator earns is turned into a letter from A+ to F. Everything we check is either published on the operator's own site or comes from the sales and draw data we already collect while tracking their competitions.

A criterion we could not check counts as not assessed, not as a failure — it is left out of the score entirely. We only publish a letter once we have assessed at least 75% of the available points, and we re-check operators roughly every 90 days.

Transparency

22 of 100 points

Whether you can see what you are buying — the odds, the ticket numbers and who actually won.

Odds shown clearly 5 pts: The site states your odds in a form you can actually read — "1 in 5,000" — rather than leaving you to work them out from a ticket count buried on the page.
Entry list visible 5 pts: You can see who has entered, or at least how many entries are in, before the draw closes. A draw nobody can inspect is a draw you have to take on trust.
Winners published 5 pts: Past winners are published where anyone can find them, with enough detail to tell a real result from a stock photo.
Ticket sales published 4 pts: Live ticket sales are published on each draw, so you know how full it is before you buy. We take this straight from what their own pages show us.
Honest instant-win counters 3 pts: Where instant wins are offered, the prize table adds up and the prizes are actually going out. We keep our own history of every operator's instant-win counters, so we can see whether a "won" figure ever moves — a table that stays frozen at nought across draw after finished draw is a prize nobody received.

Player protection

32 of 100 points

The safeguards around entering: a genuine free route in, age checks, spending controls and a draw somebody independent oversees.

Free entry route 8 pts: There is a genuine free route in — by post or online — on the same terms as a paid ticket. This is a legal requirement for a prize draw, and the operators who bury it are the ones to watch.
Age verification 4 pts: Entrants are age-checked — an ID or age-verification step, not just a box to tick. A stated 18+ rule in the terms earns half credit; an actual check earns full.
Spending limits and self-exclusion 4 pts: You can set a spending limit or exclude yourself, and the tools are easy to find rather than hidden behind a support ticket.
Secure payments 4 pts: Payments run through a recognised processor over a secure connection, and card details are never handled by the site itself.
Signed the voluntary code 4 pts: The operator has signed the DCMS voluntary code for prize competitions, publicly committing to standards on advertising, draws and player protection.
Independently certified draw 3 pts: Draws are run by an independent, certified service — a GLI-audited system or a third-party randomiser — rather than by someone in the office picking a number.
Honest pricing 5 pts: The price you are quoted is the price. We track every draw's ticket price over time, taken from the operator's own pages, so we can see whether it quietly climbs once a draw is live — and whether a "sale" price is a genuine reduction on the regular one rather than a higher number with a line through it.

Fair terms

25 of 100 points

Whether the small print is fair, or quietly lets the operator swap your prize, keep your money or take your photo.

These checks run backwards from the rest. What we look for is a hostile clause in the small print, so an operator scores the points when the clause is absent and loses them when we find one. Below are the clauses we read the terms for.

No unfair prize substitution 5 pts: The terms do not let the operator swap your prize for something worth less at their own discretion, or force a cash pay-out on you at a figure they pick after you have won. Replacing an unavailable prize with one of equal or greater value is normal and does not count against them.
No blanket "no refunds" clause 5 pts: There is no blanket "all sales final" clause. If a draw is cancelled or never runs, you get your money back. Tickets being non-refundable once a draw goes ahead is normal and does not count against them.
No sweeping liability exclusion 5 pts: The operator does not try to sign away all responsibility for everything, including the things the law says they cannot exclude. A clause limited to what the law allows is normal and does not count against them.
No claim over your name or photo 5 pts: Entering does not hand the operator the right to use your name, photo or likeness in their advertising forever, without asking and without paying.
No credit expiry or account forfeiture 5 pts: Your account credit does not quietly expire, and the terms do not let the operator close your account and keep the balance.

Track record

21 of 100 points

What the operator has actually done: how long they have traded, what players say about them, and whether their draws finish as advertised.

Trustpilot reputation 7 pts: What players actually say. We read the public Trustpilot rating alongside how many reviews it is built on — a perfect score from nine people is not the same as a strong score from nine thousand.
Reputation trend 2 pts: Which way that reputation is moving. We keep our own history of each operator's rating, so a slide shows up here before the headline number does.
Established business 3 pts: How long the operator has been trading. New is not bad, but a long record is something a brand-new site cannot fake.
Draws complete on time 5 pts: Draws close and complete on the date advertised, rather than being quietly extended until enough tickets have sold.
Consistent sell-through 2 pts: Their draws consistently reach a healthy share of tickets sold, which is what makes a published prize a prize somebody actually wins.
Runs on an established platform 2 pts: The draws run on recognised competition software used across many operators — a hosted platform or an established plugin — rather than something built in-house. Shared platforms standardise how tickets are allocated and entry lists are produced; a self-built site can be every bit as sound, but you are taking the operator's word for how it works.

From score to letter

Grade	Score	What it means
A+ Trust grade A+ — Excellent. How we rate operators.	90–100	Excellent
A Trust grade A — Very good. How we rate operators.	80–89	Very good
B Trust grade B — Good. How we rate operators.	70–79	Good
C Trust grade C — Fair. How we rate operators.	55–69	Fair
D Trust grade D — Poor. How we rate operators.	40–54	Poor
F Trust grade F — Failing. How we rate operators.	Below 40	Failing

An operator we have assessed but not yet covered to 75% keeps their score and shows no letter.

What a grade is not

Grades are based on publicly observable criteria — what the operator publishes on their own site — together with the sales and draw data we collect while tracking their competitions.
A grade is not a guarantee of legitimacy, of a fair draw, or that a prize will be delivered. It describes what we could see, on the day we looked.
We are not affiliated with any operator. Operators are shown their own grade and the evidence behind it, and may ask us to correct a verdict they can disprove — no operator approves their grade, and none can have one withheld.
Paid placement and operator subscriptions have zero effect on grades. Nothing on this platform is for sale that changes a letter, a score or a single criterion.
Operators buy placement with advertising credits. Wherever they do — and wherever an unsold slot is filled with an operator we earn a referral commission from — the card is labelled Sponsored; a card labelled Featured is our own editorial pick, and nobody paid for it. Either way it moves where a competition appears and nothing else — not a grade, not a trust tier, and not the order of a price or odds sort.
Whether an operator has claimed its listing has no effect on our rankings or its grade, and we don’t publish it. The directory’s top-rated order, best competition sites and the homepage are ordered on trust tier, Trustpilot reputation and our own editorial picks.
Do your own research before entering. Read the terms, check the free entry route, and treat a grade as one input among several.

Spotted something we have graded wrongly? Tell us and we will re-check it.

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