Report
Exploring online, illegal, individual-led lotteries and raffles
Exploring online, illegal, individual-led lotteries and raffles
Setting the scene
How individual-led lotteries and raffles appear online
Digital intelligence reveals that the online ecosystem for individual-led lotteries and raffles is vibrant, fast-moving, and deeply embedded into everyday social media use. Rather than operating on dedicated gambling sites, these draws are hosted on personal profiles and broadcast via TikTok LIVE, often to thousands of viewers at a time.
The prizes on offer were varied. Digital intelligence and the qualitative interviews identified everything from lower‑value items and collectibles through to high‑value, aspirational prizes. Examples included hampers and personalised cakes from local businesses, branded gift bundles, toys and electronics (for example, Jellycat toys, Nintendo Switch 2 and Nintendo DS consoles), holidays such as trips to Corfu, large cash prizes exceeding £1,000, and, at the very top end, cars, campervans, and other big‑ticket items promoted by small‑scale raffle creators.
The visual language of these draws is designed to build hype and urgency. Posts are heavily stylised, often mimicking influencer merchandise drops. They frequently feature high-value, aspirational items alongside emojis to grab attention, for example, captions like: "🚨 COMPETITION TIME 🚨 Win a BMW M2 2023 pushing 700BHP 🔥 OR take the £50,000 cash alternative 💰".
However, hosts actively use evasive language to avoid platform detection. Digital intelligence shows creators deliberately avoiding the word "raffle", knowing it might trigger platform moderation. Instead, users on forums note: "They call them waffles and razzles... [because] the word 'Raffle' will flag the post." Some hosts also opt for evasive spellings like "LIVE DRSW" to reduce the likelihood of detection and online censorship.
To further blur the lines and create a false sense of legitimacy, hosts routinely co-opt official regulatory language, adding phrases like "18 plus," "T and Cs apply," or "No purchase needed" to their captions, even when the activity is a paid-entry chance-based draw.
Outside of TikTok, these draws are debated on forums like Reddit. In these spaces, online users have expressed confusion over the rules, asking questions like: "Is this technically considered gambling under UK law or more like a competition?" emphasising the lack of clarity regarding participation of these online social media draws.
Next sectionScale of participation in online individual-led lotteries and raffles
Last updated: 13 August 2026
Show updates to this content
No changes to show.