Work out how many instant win prizes you can seed into a competition before they eat the margin.
Fill in the competition basics and your instant win prize table (fewer prizes than tickets) to model the impact.
Results are estimates for guidance only and assume the inputs you provide — they aren't financial advice.
Sizing an instant win pot
Instant wins are a second prize budget hiding inside the competition, and they're paid for from the same revenue as the main prize. The discipline that keeps them safe is to size the pot as a share of projected revenue at your expected sell-through — not at a full sell-out — and to check the post-pot margin still clears your floor. If the competition undersells, the instant win pot doesn't shrink with it: those prizes sit on sold tickets disproportionately, which is exactly when margin is already under pressure.
The other half of the design is the player-facing odds line, because "1 in 75 tickets wins" is a marketing asset. Splitting one budget into a frequent low-value tier plus a few headline instant wins usually beats a flat table on both conversion and shareability. Once the pot is set, sanity-check the whole draw in the profit calculator — enter the pot under "other costs" — and price the tickets with the ticket pricing calculator.
Frequently asked questions
How much should I budget for instant wins?
Operators commonly allocate somewhere between 5% and 15% of projected gross revenue to the instant win pot, on top of the main prize. The right figure depends on what the instant wins are for: a conversion booster on a slow seller justifies more than a sweetener on a draw that sells itself.
What instant win odds do players expect?
Player-facing odds in the UK market typically land between 1 in 50 and 1 in 250 tickets. Shorter odds with smaller prizes (£5 credit, low-value items) drive repeat purchase; longer odds with chunkier prizes make better marketing material. Many operators blend both in one prize table.
Should instant win prizes be cash or site credit?
Site credit costs you less than face value (winners spend it on future tickets, and some goes unredeemed) and feeds repeat business, but cash and physical prizes are more persuasive in marketing. A common pattern is credit for the small, frequent tier and cash for the rarer headline instant wins.
Find Competitions tracks live ticket sales, pricing and sell-through across the UK competition market — see how your numbers compare to operators like you.