Giveaway planner & fair draw

How it works

1. 1 Say what you're giving away, how long it runs and how people enter: a comment on Instagram or Facebook, a ballot at the counter, or an email.
2. 2 Choose who can enter and how the winner claims the prize. The official rules write themselves, with a skill-testing question and a free way to enter.
3. 3 Copy the posts, print the counter sign and ballots, and add the key dates to your calendar.
4. 4 When it closes, paste in the comments or type up the ballots. Each person counts once, and the winner and alternates are drawn in front of you, with a code anyone can use to check the draw.

Free, with no account. Everything happens in your browser: the names and comments you paste in are never sent to us or saved, and the draw stays on this page. Remember keeps only your plan, on this device.

Good to know

Why a skill-testing question?

Under the Criminal Code, a game of pure chance where people pay or buy something to enter can be an illegal lottery. That's why Canadian contests ask the winner to answer a math question before they get the prize, and let anyone enter without buying anything (verify).

What the rules have to say

The Competition Act expects a contest to say how many prizes there are and what they're worth, where it's open, when it ends and anything that changes someone's chance of winning, before they enter (verify). Your official rules cover these, and every post points people to them.

Instagram and Facebook

Both ask you to say the contest isn't sponsored or run by them, and to have entrants release them from responsibility. Facebook doesn't allow “share to enter” or “tag a friend to enter”, so they aren't offered there. Meta changes its promotion rules from time to time (verify).

How the draw stays fair

Before you draw, the page shows a short code for the list of entries. Each entry then gets a place from the draw code and its own name, and the lowest places win, followed by the alternates in order. The order you pasted the list in makes no difference, and anyone with the same list and code gets the same winners.

Age and where it's open

The age of majority is 18 in Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec and Saskatchewan, and 19 everywhere else. A prize like alcohol needs winners of legal drinking age (verify).

Running it in Quebec

Quebec no longer has a separate registration for publicity contests (verify), but the Charter of the French language still applies: rules and posts aimed at Quebec should be in French, at least as prominent as any other language. Choose French or Both.

Guidance, not legal advice.