A raffle generator for fair, live drawings
This raffle generator draws winners for you, from numbered tickets or from a list of names. Use it for a school fundraiser, an office party, an online giveaway or a club dinner. Set the range, press the button, and a big reel rolls like a slot machine before it stops on the winning ticket. It is free, there is no account, and it works in the browser on a phone, tablet or computer.
How the raffle drawing works
- Tickets or names. The sentence at the top reads “Draw one winner from tickets 1 to 100”. Tap “tickets” to switch to “a list of names”.
- Your ticket numbers. Tap the two numbers to type the first ticket and the last ticket, for example 1 to 500. Use the numbers printed on your roll of tickets.
- Your names. In name mode, type or paste the names in the Names box, one per line. The list is saved in this browser.
- How many winners. Tap “one winner” to draw 1, 2, 3, 5 or 10 winners at a time. Then keep drawing as long as you need.
- The reel. Press Draw or the Space bar. The reel rolls and reveals each winner in turn. Winners are listed in order: Winner 1, Winner 2, and so on.
- Never twice. A ticket or name that has been drawn stays out of the draw. A counter shows how many have been drawn so far, and the tool tells you when everyone has been drawn.
- Copy winners and Start over. Copy winners copies the list as text, ready to paste in an email or a post. Start over, in the bottom bar, puts everyone back for a new raffle.
- Full screen. The full screen button in the header makes the reel big and readable on a projector or a TV. The Sound button in the bottom bar turns the sounds off.
How to run a fair raffle
A raffle feels fair when people can see it happen. A few habits help.
- Match the range to the tickets you sold. If you sold tickets 1 to 350, set the range to 1 to 350, not to the full roll of 500. If a few numbers in the middle were never sold, say before the draw that an unsold number is simply drawn again.
- Draw in public. Put the tool in full screen on a TV or a projector and draw in front of everyone. For an online giveaway, share your screen or record it.
- Announce the prize order first. Say in advance which prize goes to Winner 1, Winner 2 and so on, or whether you draw the smaller prizes first and the grand prize last.
- Set the rules before you start. Can one person win two prizes? Must winners be present? How long do they have to claim a prize? Decide, then say it out loud.
- Keep the list. Press Copy winners and paste the list in an email or a document, or take a photo of the screen.
Raffle rules for fundraising vary a lot from state to state (some states require a license or a permit, and some allow raffles only for nonprofits), so check your state and local rules before you sell tickets.
Raffle ideas
School and club fundraisers
Sell numbered tickets during the event, then draw on the big screen at the end of the night. In ticket mode you only need the first and last numbers, not a list of buyers. The prize goes to whoever holds the matching stub.
Online giveaways
Paste the names or usernames of everyone who entered, one per line, and draw your winners while you share your screen or go live. Copy winners gives you the list for your announcement post.
Office party door prizes
Hand everyone a numbered ticket at the door, set the number of winners to match the number of prizes, and draw them all in one go or one by one between speeches.
The odds, in plain numbers
The raffle uses your browser's cryptographic random generator, the same kind of source used for security. Every ticket still in the draw has the same chance on every pick. With 500 tickets and one prize, each ticket has a 1 in 500 chance (0.2%). With 5 prizes, each ticket has a 5 in 500 chance (1%) of being among the winners.
A person who holds several tickets has more chances. Here is the chance of winning at least one prize, with 500 tickets in the draw:
| Tickets you hold | One prize | Five prizes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0.2% | 1% |
| 5 | 1% | about 4.9% |
| 10 | 2% | about 9.6% |
| 25 | 5% | about 22.7% |
| 50 | 10% | about 41.1% |
Since a ticket is never drawn twice, one ticket can win only one prize. A person with several tickets can still win more than once. If your rules say one prize per person, draw one more winner and set the extra ticket aside.
Raffle, name picker or wheel?
The raffle generator is built for prize drawings: numbered tickets, several winners, a list you can copy. To call on students or pick a volunteer, the random name picker is simpler. For a few names and a lot of suspense, put them on the wheel of names. And if you just need a number, the random number generator picks one in any range.
Your names never leave your device. The list is saved only in your own browser, nothing is sent to a server, and the tool keeps working offline once the page has loaded, which helps in a gym or a hall with weak signal.