7 free online lotteries to try your luck

Lotteries and draws can be addictive (trust me, I know). Who wouldn’t want to win something, right? Even if the chances of winning are small, people are allowed to dream (and some DO have their dreams come true, why couldn’t that be us?).

The challenge here is not to let that gambling side of yours take control over your common sense and spend too much in hopes of winning something. Because, you know, chances are you’ll never win.

The good news is there are lots of free draws and lotteries available online, so you can scratch that gambling itch without spending a dime.

Free? How is that even possible?

You might be wondering how these sites make money and pay their winners if visitors pay nothing to participate.

Well, most (if not all) of them are 100% ad-funded. That means, the more visitors those websites have, the more their ad revenue is.
That is why they usually don’t send out email notifications to the winners to keep people getting back every day to check if they’ve won, and claim their prizes. This way they provide a steady flow of traffic to their websites and hence earn from ads. The rare exceptions are FreeDrawFriday and win4free (numbers 2 and 5 in my list) – they do not require their users to claim prizes.

So, if you think you can get lucky and hit the jackpot, then these websites are worth checking out.

1. FREE Cash Lotto.

Availability

Worldwide (where permitted by law), and only people over 18 years old can participate.

Make sure to sign up with your real name as your initials are needed for the draw.

Draws they have

• The Daily Draw is held daily, with prizes ranging from £5 to £1,000.
• The Family & Friends draw is daily, too. You can claim the same amount your referrals win (if they win) in The Daily Draw. So it’s safe to say that prizes range from £5 to £1,000, and the more people you refer to FREE Cash Lotto, the higher your chances of winning are.
• Play Lotto Free and Play Euro Millions announce their winners once a week – on Sundays and Saturdays, respectively. The winners get £1 for each winning line (there is a total of 60 each week, and one player can win more than once) in ‘bonus cash’ that can only be claimed in The Bonus Draw in case of winning.
• The Bonus Draw is daily, too. You can win whatever the amount you have in so-called ‘bonus cash.’

Payment

They pay via PayPal, but winners have to claim their winnings on the day when their emoji combinations are drawn; otherwise, they won’t get anything as winning emoji combinations change every day.

2. win4free

Availability

Worldwide (where permitted by law), and you have to be at least 18 years old to play.

Draws they have

They have four monthly draws, and each one of them has a prize of £25. To participate, you would need to collect tickets. You can do that by playing one of the games they have and by referring friends to the website. The more you play, the more tickets you may collect. More tickets = higher chances of winning.

Payment

Win4free pays via PayPal; no claiming necessary, you will get your money if you win without any further action from your side.

3. Freemoji Lottery

Availability

Worldwide (where permitted by law), but you have to be 18 years or older to sign up.

Draws they have

When you sign up, you get to choose your unique 5-emoji combination. This combination is required for you to participate in Freemoji draws (they have two).

• The Fivers Draw is held daily with five $5 prizes.
• The Main Draw is daily, too, with the prize amount starting from $20. I’m saying ‘starting from’ because if nobody claims the prize, it is rolled over to the next draw. As of today (June 2, 2020), the prize amount is $1,060. Somebody’s going to hit it big!

Payment

They pay via PayPal, but winners have to claim their winnings on the day when their emoji combinations have won; otherwise, they won’t get anything as winning emoji combinations change every day.

4. WIN A DINNER

Availability

Worldwide (where permitted by law), and you have to be at least 18 years old to sign up.

Draws they have

They only have one draw, and it is held daily. You don’t have to do anything to participate in the draw. Just visit the website once a day to see if your username has won, and claim the winnings if it has.

Prizes are £25-worth restaurant e-vouchers (hence the name, ‘Win A Dinner’), for restaurants like Wagamama, Just Eat, Pizza Express, Pizza Hut, etc. The restaurant list may be changed, but you get the idea.

It’s important to note that those vouchers are only valid in certain jurisdictions, so winners from outside those jurisdictions can ask to replace their prize with the £20 in cash, or request to donate £40 to charity on their behalf.

Payment

If the winner is eligible for the monetary prize, WIN A DINNER pays via PayPal. Other winners get their e-vouchers sent to their registered emails.

5. FreeDrawFriday

Availability

Worldwide (where permitted by law), and only people over 18 years old can participate.

Draws they have

They only have one weekly draw, and they announce the winners every Friday (one winner a week). To participate, you would need to collect tickets by playing Bingo, watching videos, or completing various offers like surveys or quizzes.

Prizes are usually somewhere between €10 – €20.

There is no need to claim your winnings; they will send yours straight to your PayPal.

Payment

FreeDrawFriday sends payments via PayPal.

6. Big Free Giveaway

Availability

You can play from anywhere in the world (where permitted by law) if you are over 18.

Draws they have

• Weekly raffle splits the prize pot among 10 lucky winners with the first place winner getting 50% of it. To participate, you need to have at least one ticket. Tickets can be claimed daily, and only 1 ‘free’ ticket a day is allowed. You can, however, earn extra tickets by participating in other site offers, games, or surveys, or by referring friends to the site. Prize pot depends on the site’s ad revenue, but it usually is around $20-25.
• The lottery is weekly, too. To participate, you’ll need to pick six numbers from 1 to 59. Players can win 1st, 2nd or 3rd prize depending on how many numbers they match. I’m not sure if the prize pot is fixed or calculated weekly based on the website’s ad revenue. On June 1, 2020, the first prize is $133, the second prize is $66, and the third prize is $19. Not bad, not bad at all.

Payment

Big Free Giveaway pays the winners via PayPal. Winners get an email notification in case of winning, but they have to claim their prize manually on the site within one week after the draw they won in.

7. Guessmaster

You can read my full review here.

Availability

Guessmaster is said to be for UK citizens only, but some people from outside the UK get paid, too.

Draws they have

They have four daily draws, but you need to play games to participate. Prizes are said to be from £5 to £500, although I usually win (if I win) amounts from £0.01 to £0.72. You may want to read my full review of Guessmaster to find out more about it.

Payment

Guessmaster pays via PayPal after the minimum of £10 in winnings is reached. Make sure to sign up using your valid PayPal email; otherwise, you risk not getting any payment at all.