By MoneySavingExpert's Coupon Kid, Jordon Cox
We all like the idea of money for nothing, but did you know there are now many ways of winning cash without spending a penny? We never encourage playing paid-for lotteries, but if you do, with the price of playing the popular Euromillions increasing to £2.50 from September, there’s never been a better time to look at the free options.
With an added number in Euromillions too, the odds of winning the jackpot will stand at one in 140 million. To put this into perspective, Ladbrokes gave me odds of 10,000-1 of becoming Prime Minister… and I’m even more likely to become a saint at 20,000,000-1.
Luckily, there are free alternatives to the lottery with cash prizes and much better odds. Okay, the prizes are not as big and won’t allow you to quit your job and buy a multi-million pound pad in the Bahamas, but you could win up to £1,000+ with no outlay and little effort involved – you’ll just need to check and claim if you’re a winner before the next draw.
There are loads of different free lotteries out there, but we’ve done some thorough checking on all of the below to check they are legit, and all have told us they will never sell on your personal data to third parties. Most of these websites make their money from advertising, and although online ads can be annoying, without them there wouldn’t be any money to be won.
I’ve ordered them below based on the amount you can win. Have fun entering and good luck!
Raffler – £1,000 daily jackpot – 1 in 15,000 chance of winning
You’ll need to sign up and watch two 30 second adverts each day to be entered into the draw (make sure you’re connected to Wi-Fi to avoid extra charges). The money it makes from you watching those adverts goes into the prize fund to give away. If a winner does not log onto the app the next day and claim, there will be a rollover. The minimum jackpot is £1,000 each day and draws are at 7pm daily.
Free Postcode Lottery – £300 starting pot – 1 in 470,000 chance of winning
The UK’s biggest free lottery site. You’ll need to sign up with your postcode to be entered into several draws every day, including the main draw which has a prize starting at £300. All draws take place at 12pm and you’ll need to check every day – if a prize isn’t claimed it will roll over (the biggest jackpot has reached £1,250).
IMPORTANT: Free Postcode Lottery is 100% free to play, but there’s a totally separate postcode lottery called The People’s Postcode Lottery that costs money to play – we’re only suggesting you play the free one.
DOB lotto – £50 jackpot – 1 in 4,800 chance of winning
A £50 daily jackpot for your date of birth appearing once registered. The winning date of birth will include the day, month and year and you must match each to win the prize. You’ll need to log in and claim in order to get your prize. Draws are at 12pm daily.
Badger the Button – £10/£15/£100 jackpots
A £10 daily jackpot, with the chance to increase your odds by ‘badgering the button’ and get more entries. If your button is gold when you land on the site, then you have won the jackpot.
Lucky Phone – £10/£20/£1,000 jackpots – 1 in 3,700 chance of winning
A daily draw similar to the Free Postcode lottery but for phone numbers. Prizes range from £10 – £1,000 and you must match all numbers from your phone number in order to win. Draws are at midnight daily and you’ll need to check the site every day to see if you’ve won after you’ve registered.
By checking every day and completing other things on site such as referring and reviewing, you can rack up loyalty points which you can exchange for cash – even if you don’t win. MSE Sarah M has won £65 in total from this lottery, and MSE Ant has won £60.
Free Birthdate Lottery – £10 starting pot – 1 in 2,500 chance of winning
A daily draw of birth dates, similar to the DOB lotto. The starting jackpot is £10 and increases for each day it is not won. You’ll need to register your birthdate and check the site each day to see if you’ve won. Draws are at 11am daily.
Number Plate Lotto – £10 starting pot – 1 in 18,000 chance of winning
A daily draw of number plates. The starting jackpot is £10 and increases for each day it is not won. You will need to register your number plate and to go on the site each day to check if you’ve won. Draws are at 9pm daily.
The Selfie Lottery – £10 starting pot – 1 in 20,000 chance of winning
Uploading a selfie could pay off. One selfie wins the jackpot each day and for each day you log in, you’ll earn a loyalty bonus which will be added to the prize pot if you win. The minimum prize you can win is £10 but it grows for each day it’s not claimed, and you get extra cash in the pot for referrals and logging in every day. Draws are at 12pm daily and are drawn randomly.
The selfie lottery is owned by an email distribution company, but it has confirmed it won’t pass on any data to third parties. Its parent company looks to have had a dodgy past, but it told us a new team is involved in this and assured us everything is above board. I won £45.50 in February and got the money with no problems – but it’s up to you if you want to play it or not.
Weekly Postcode Lottery – mystery amount – 1 in 100 chance of winning
Weekly winners of mystery cash prizes for your postcode once registered. The prize amount is based on how much the site has made through advertising each week. On this website however, it contacts winners directly if you’ve won… so once you have entered, it does the rest. Draws are Sundays at 10pm.
Free Emoji Lottery – mystery amount – just launched
A brand new Emoji lottery launched recently with the first draw taking place on Sun 14 Aug. Select five emojis and hope they come up in daily draws starting soon. We’ve checked it out and been in touch with the company behind it and it appears to be legit. Extra prizes are being given out for early entrants. Once it starts the draws, you’ll need to check daily to see if you’ve won.
Freemoji Lottery – mystery amount – coming soon
A brand new Emoji lottery launching the first week of August from the company behind the Free Postcode Lottery. You’ll receive an ‘emojiname’ when you sign up (a name in emojis) and if it comes up, you’ll win the prize if you claim in time. Daily draws will be held at 7pm and once it starts, you’ll need to check daily to see if you’ve won. Two people can never win one draw as each ‘emojiname’ is unique.
Have you ever won on a free lottery website? I’d love to know what happened in the comments below, on Twitter @Jordon_Cox or on Facebook.
