Prize Draw & Social Media Giveaway Rules Check (UK)

Giveaways, prize draws and competitions are a popular way to grow an audience, especially in the run-up to Christmas, but in the UK they are regulated. Under the Gambling Act 2005, a promotion where people pay to enter and winners are chosen purely by chance is a lottery, and running an unlicensed lottery is a criminal offence under section 258. Most prize draws stay legal by offering a free entry route, or by making entry free altogether, under the rules in Schedule 2 to the Act. Competitions avoid the lottery rules if winning depends on real skill or judgement, which means the question has to be hard enough to deter a significant number of people or stop a significant number from winning.

Promotions are also covered by Section 8 of the CAP Code, which the Advertising Standards Authority applies to marketing on websites and social media. It requires clear significant terms, such as how to enter, the closing date, what the prize is and any restrictions, that prizes are awarded as described, and that winners are picked fairly and their details made available on request. The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (now largely replaced by the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024) ban falsely claiming that someone has won a prize, and UK GDPR and PECR apply to the entrant data you collect. Platforms like Instagram, TikTok and Facebook have their own promotion rules too. The ASA regularly names businesses and influencers that get this wrong, and can refer serious cases to Trading Standards.