Free Postcode Lotteries (Pick My Postcode and Others): Are They Legit?
Free postcode lottery games — most notably Pick My Postcode — are genuine prize competitions where entering costs nothing. They are not licensed lotteries. They draw daily cash prizes for UK postcodes, funded by advertising revenue rather than ticket sales. The prizes are real but small; the operator earns money from advertising shown to players who check results daily.
By admin · Last updated 14 September 2026
What is Pick My Postcode?
Pick My Postcode is a free-to-play UK prize game, formerly branded “Free Postcode Lottery,” where you register your home postcode, check the site daily, and win a cash prize if your postcode is drawn (pickmypostcode.com, July 2026). It has operated in the UK for a number of years and has built a large user base.
Pick My Postcode is funded by advertising displayed on the site — players visit daily to see if they have won, which generates advertising impressions and completes short sponsored surveys. The company earns revenue from advertisers and offer partners, and uses part of that revenue to fund prize payments to winners.
Important: Pick My Postcode is not a licensed lottery. It is not affiliated with, and is entirely separate from, People’s Postcode Lottery. The two use postcodes as their entry mechanism but are structurally and legally very different — one is a Gambling Commission-licensed society lottery, the other is an advertising-funded free prize draw.
How does Pick My Postcode work?
The basic mechanics (pickmypostcode.com, July 2026):
- Register your home postcode at pickmypostcode.com — free, no payment required.
- Each day, the site draws one or more winning postcodes across several simultaneous games, including its main daily draw and a bonus draw.
- If your postcode is drawn, a “Collect” button appears on the site for that game.
- You need to visit the site and click “Collect” to claim your prize; unclaimed prizes are not automatically paid.
- Prizes are paid via PayPal.
Players can also build up a small daily bonus, added to by checking the site regularly, and by completing optional daily survey questions.
What prizes can you win?
Pick My Postcode prizes are small by the standards of major prize competitions or licensed lotteries. The site distributes more than £800 in total across multiple winning postcodes each day (pickmypostcode.com, July 2026), meaning individual prizes are typically a matter of pounds to tens of pounds per winning postcode.
The prizes are funded entirely by advertising and offer revenue, which caps the amounts that can be distributed. There are no headline prizes of tens of thousands or millions of pounds — this is not a product comparable to Omaze or People’s Postcode Lottery on prize value.
Is Pick My Postcode legitimate?
Yes. Pick My Postcode is a real, operating website with a long track record of confirmed prize payments to registered users, and is well known within the UK “compers” community that tracks free prize competitions.
The “catch” with free postcode games is not that they are fraudulent — it is that they are funded by advertising, so the prizes must remain modest, and you are required to check in daily and often complete a short survey to collect a prize. The business model is: you give them your attention, and occasionally some data via surveys, and they give you small prizes. This is a legitimate exchange, but it is not comparable to a ticket-funded lottery or prize competition in scale.
Is Pick My Postcode regulated?
Because no payment is required to enter, Pick My Postcode is not classed as gambling and does not need a Gambling Commission licence — the licence requirement applies to lotteries and games where a stake is paid. Instead, its prize claims and advertising fall under the Advertising Standards Authority’s CAP Code, which requires prize promotions to be run fairly, prizes to be genuinely available, and terms to be clear (asa.org.uk, July 2026). This is a lighter regulatory footprint than a licensed society lottery, which is one reason free postcode games can operate with minimal overhead.
What does “free” actually cost you?
There is no cash outlay, but there is a time cost. To collect a prize you typically need to visit the site daily, and many games ask you to complete a short sponsored survey or view an offer first. For a player checking daily across a full year, that is a meaningful, if modest, time commitment in exchange for a small expected prize value. Some players treat this as a hobby alongside other free prize competitions (“compers”); others find the daily check-in more effort than it is worth for the size of prize on offer.
How does this compare to People’s Postcode Lottery?
These are fundamentally different products despite the similar postcode mechanism:
| Feature | Pick My Postcode | People’s Postcode Lottery |
|---|---|---|
| Cost to enter | Free | £12.50 per month per ticket |
| Prize sizes | Small — over £800 shared daily across winning postcodes | Larger — £1,000 to £250,000+ per ticket, depending on draw |
| Licensed lottery? | No | Yes (Gambling Commission, account 829) |
| Charity component | None identified | Minimum 30% to charity |
| Requires daily check | Yes, to claim prizes | No — winners are notified automatically |
People’s Postcode Lottery charges £12.50 a month but offers much larger prizes and gives a minimum of 30% to charity. Pick My Postcode costs nothing but the prizes are small and there is no stated charitable component.
Do free postcode games give to charity?
Pick My Postcode does not publish a charity giving model — its revenue funds prize payments and running the advertising-supported business, not charitable donations. If charitable giving is your motivation, a free postcode game is not the right vehicle; a licensed society lottery such as what is a society lottery or a direct donation will do more for a cause.
For genuine prize products with a verified charity component, see our how much goes to charity comparison.
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