How to pick a giveaway winner fairly

Decide the rules before you open entries

Almost every giveaway dispute comes from a rule that was made up after the fact. Write these down and publish them with the announcement, so they are fixed before anyone enters.

• Who can enter: age, country or region, and whether staff and family are excluded.
• How to enter, and exactly what counts as one entry.
• Whether extra entries are possible, and how many.
• The closing date and time, including the time zone.
• When and where the draw will happen.
• How the winner will be contacted and how long they have to reply.
• What happens if they do not reply.

Rules for prize promotions vary a great deal between countries, and most social platforms publish their own promotion rules as well. Check both before you launch. This guide is practical advice, not legal advice.

Prepare a clean entry list

The draw is only as fair as the list it is drawn from. Export or copy the entries into a spreadsheet first, so you have a fixed record of who was in the draw at the closing time.

1. Remove entries made after the deadline.
2. Remove anyone who does not meet the rules you published.
3. Check for duplicates. On the Random Name Picker, the Remove duplicates button does this in one click.
4. Keep usernames exactly as written, so the winner can be identified without doubt.
5. Save a copy of the final list. If anyone questions the result, this is your evidence.

Handling bonus entries

If people can earn extra entries, their chance has to rise in proportion. There are two correct ways to do it, and they give identical odds.

With weights, the slice on the wheel grows to match, so viewers can see at a glance that someone with five entries has a slice five times the size. That visibility is useful: nobody can claim the odds were hidden.

Run the draw where people can see it

1. Start a screen recording or go live before you paste anything.
2. Show the full entry list and the total number of entries on screen.
3. Paste the list into the Prize Wheel or the Random Name Picker and switch to full screen.
4. Spin once. Do not do a "practice spin" on the real list, because the practice result will look like the one you threw away.
5. Leave the winner on screen for a few seconds, then save the result card with Share result.

The winner is chosen by a cryptographically secure random number generator in your own browser, and the animation simply lands on that result. Our guide to how online wheel spinners work explains the mechanics, which is handy if a viewer asks.

Always draw backup winners

Winners go missing more often than you would expect. They entered with an account they never check, they turn out to be ineligible, or they simply never reply. Decide in advance how many backups to draw and do it in the same session.

Switch the wheel to Elimination mode before the first spin. Each winner is removed automatically, so the second spin picks a first reserve from everyone who is left, and the third spin picks a second reserve. Record the order. If the winner does not respond by your deadline, you move to the first reserve without needing another draw.

Announce it properly

• Post the result where you announced the giveaway, not somewhere new.
• Share the recording or the result card alongside the name.
• Contact the winner from your official account, and tell people publicly that you will only ever contact them from that account. Fake "you have won" messages are a common scam around giveaways.
• Never ask a winner to pay a fee, share a password or enter card details to claim a prize.
• Once the prize has been sent, say so. A short follow-up post is the best advert for your next giveaway.

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