In short
Most UK competition sites let you enter free by post, and by law that entry has to have the same chance of winning as a paid one. What varies is the paperwork: some want an unenclosed postcard, some accept an envelope, some limit you to one entry per competition and others allow more, and nearly all of them require your entry to physically arrive before the closing date rather than just be postmarked in time. Allow a week. Write everything they ask for, in the order they ask for it. And check each operator's terms individually, because assuming one site's rules apply to another is the most common way people waste a stamp.
Why the postal route exists at all
It's worth understanding this properly, because it explains why operators are so particular about the format.
A paid draw where the winner is picked at random is a lottery, and a private company can't legally run one. Competition sites get around this in one of two ways: by adding a skill question, or by offering a genuinely free way to enter. If nobody is required to pay, it isn't a lottery, and the whole operation stays lawful.
That's what your postcard is doing. On a site relying on the free entry route, the postal option isn't a gesture of goodwill or a marketing quirk — it's load-bearing. Which is also why the law insists it be real: your free entry must carry the same chance of winning as a paid one, the option has to be properly communicated rather than hidden, and the process can't be made deliberately awkward beyond the ordinary effort of posting something.
The flip side is that operators are entitled to set a format and enforce it. They're processing entries by hand, matching them against a ticket system, and an entry that doesn't follow the stated format genuinely is harder to process. So the fussiness isn't usually obstruction. It's just admin — but it's admin that will cost you the entry if you ignore it.
What a postal entry usually has to look like
The common pattern across UK sites is an unenclosed postcard, handwritten, carrying a specific set of details. Unenclosed means exactly that: a postcard, not a card inside an envelope, with the writing visible. Some operators accept a plain sheet of paper in an envelope instead, and a few specify one or the other, so this is the first thing to check rather than assume.
What they'll almost always want on it: your full name, your full postal address including postcode, your email address, your date of birth, and your phone number. Most also want the name of the specific competition you're entering, and many want the competition number or reference, since several draws run concurrently and a postcard that doesn't say which one you mean can't be allocated.
Where the site relies on a skill question, you'll usually need to include your answer to it. This catches people out — the assumption is that the question is only for paying entrants, but if the competition is structured around a skill element, your free entry has to clear the same bar.
Handwriting matters more than you'd think. Several operators explicitly require entries to be handwritten and will reject printed labels, typed cards or anything that looks mass-produced. The reasoning is practical: it's a light deterrent against someone running off two hundred identical entries.
The rules that change from site to site
This is where the real variation sits, and where a checklist copied from another site will let you down.
Entry limits differ considerably. Some operators allow one free entry per person per competition. Others allow one per household per day. A few allow multiple entries as long as each is on a separate postcard, posted separately. Exceeding the limit rarely means the extras are simply ignored — on plenty of sites it voids all your entries for that draw, including the valid one.
Address formats vary, and some operators use a different address for postal entries than their registered office or customer service address. Sending your entry to the wrong one of their addresses is a common failure.
Whether the answer is required depends on how the site is structured. Skill-question sites generally require it; sites relying purely on the free entry route sometimes don't.
What they do with your entry varies too. Some allocate you a ticket number and email it to you, which is useful because it confirms receipt. Others simply add you to the draw with no acknowledgement at all, which means you find out whether it worked only if you win.
Whether they publish a template is worth knowing. A minority of operators give you the exact wording to copy, which removes all ambiguity. Where they do, use it verbatim rather than paraphrasing.
Timing: the mistake that costs most entries
Almost every site requires your entry to arrive before the closing date, not to be posted before it. That distinction is where most rejected entries come from.
Realistically that means posting three to five working days ahead as an absolute minimum, and a week is more comfortable. Bank holidays, industrial action and the run-up to Christmas all stretch that, sometimes considerably. First class is not a guarantee of next-day arrival and never has been.
There's a second timing trap on guaranteed draws. If you're the sort of entrant who watches the sold percentage and enters late for better odds, that strategy is unavailable to you by post. Your postcard has to be in the system days before the point where you'd otherwise be making that judgement. Postal entry buys you a free ticket at the advertised odds, not a well-timed one.
A few operators also set an earliest date — entries received more than a certain period before the draw opens get discarded. Rare, but it exists, so posting absurdly early isn't a solution either.
Why entries get rejected
The usual reasons are mundane. Missing information, most often the date of birth or the competition reference. Using an envelope where an unenclosed postcard was specified. Multiple entries on one card where the rules require separate cards. Printed or typed entries where handwriting was required. Arriving after the closing date. Being sent to the company's general address rather than the entry address. Illegible handwriting — if they can't read your email address, they can't allocate your ticket.
None of these get flagged to you. A rejected postal entry is simply not entered, and you'd have no way of knowing unless you'd asked for acknowledgement and noticed it never came.
Is it worth the stamp?
Honestly, it depends on the competition, and it's worth doing the arithmetic rather than assuming either way.
A stamp plus a postcard costs somewhere in the region of a pound, give or take, and buys you one entry. If tickets in that competition are £1 each, you've saved nothing and spent ten minutes. If tickets are £10 or £20 — as they often are on low-cap, better-odds competitions — then a postcard is buying you a genuinely valuable entry for a fraction of the price, and the effort starts to look sensible.
The other consideration is volume. Free entry is capped on most sites, so you can't scale it the way you can scale paid tickets. It's a way of getting one good shot at a competition you like the look of, not a way of building a large position in it.
Where it's clearly worth it: high ticket prices, low caps, cars you'd genuinely want. Where it's marginal: penny tickets in enormous draws, where your postcard buys a 1 in 200,000 chance and the stamp cost more than the ticket would have.
Keeping track
Two habits make this much easier.
Photograph each postcard before you post it, front and back. If there's ever a question about whether you entered or what you wrote, you have it, and it takes five seconds.
Keep a simple note of what you sent and when — competition name, date posted, closing date. Over a few months this also tells you something useful about which operators acknowledge entries and which don't, which is worth knowing when you're deciding where to spend the effort.
Building your own site-by-site list
Because the rules differ so much and operators revise them, the only reliable approach is to keep your own record for the sites you actually use. The terms are the source — usually under a heading like Free Entry, Postal Entry or No Purchase Necessary, and if you can't find one at all, that's worth noticing in itself.
For each operator, the things worth recording are the postal entry address, whether an unenclosed postcard is required or an envelope is accepted, the exact list of details they want, whether the skill answer is needed, the entry limit and the period it applies to, whether entries are acknowledged, and any template wording they publish.
Operator | Entry address | Format | Details required | Answer needed | Limit | Acknowledged |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
It takes about ten minutes per site to fill in, and it saves you re-reading terms every time. Set a reminder to re-check it a couple of times a year, since addresses and limits do change and nobody announces it when they do.
A last word on fairness
There's a persistent belief among entrants that postal entries are quietly ignored, or that they go into a separate pile that never gets drawn. Legally they can't be — a free entry route that doesn't offer the same chance of winning as a paid one doesn't do the job the law requires of it, and an operator running it that way would be undermining the basis on which their whole competition is lawful.
That said, "legally required" and "verified" aren't the same thing, and nobody audits this routinely. Which is a reasonable argument for sticking to operators who acknowledge free entries with a ticket number, since a number you can check against the draw is worth more than an assurance.
FAQs
How do you enter a competition by post? Send the details the operator specifies — usually name, full address, email, phone, date of birth, the competition name or number, and the answer to the skill question — on a handwritten, unenclosed postcard to their stated postal entry address, so it arrives before the closing date.
Does a free postal entry have the same chance of winning? Yes. Where an operator relies on a free entry route, that route has to give the same chance of winning as a paid entry. It's the basis on which the competition is lawful.
Does it have to be a postcard? On most sites, yes — an unenclosed postcard, meaning nothing in an envelope. Some operators accept a sheet of paper in an envelope instead. Check the specific terms, because sending the wrong format is a common rejection reason.
How long before the closing date should I post it? At least three to five working days, and a week is safer. Nearly all operators require the entry to arrive before the deadline, not merely to be posted before it. Allow longer around bank holidays.
How many free entries can I send? Depends on the operator. Commonly one per person per competition, sometimes one per household per day, occasionally more on separate cards. Exceeding the limit can void all your entries for that draw, not just the surplus.
Do I need to answer the skill question on a postal entry? Usually yes, where the site uses one. Free entries generally have to meet the same requirements as paid ones, so a missing or wrong answer can invalidate the entry.
Will I know if my entry was received? Only if the operator acknowledges entries — some allocate a ticket number and email it, many don't acknowledge at all. Photographing the postcard before posting is a sensible habit either way.
Can I use printed labels or type my entry? Often not. A number of operators require handwritten entries and reject printed or typed ones, partly to deter bulk entries. Check before you print anything.
Is postal entry worth the cost of a stamp? On competitions with high ticket prices and low ticket caps, yes — you're getting a valuable entry for about a pound. On penny tickets in very large draws, the stamp can cost more than the ticket would have.