Sweepstakes winner selection with a record that stays put

Each completed draw gets a sequential drawing number and a draw ID. The signed record holds the drawing number, the name you gave the draw, the completion time in UTC, the number of entries and of winners, a SHA-256 fingerprint of the file you uploaded, a fingerprint of the winners list, and the random seed source. When the seed came from the NIST Randomness Beacon, the pulse number is recorded too. The result page shows the winners with every column from your file and offers the original file for download. The address on your account receives the link as soon as the draw is published.

The file is stored exactly as uploaded, byte for byte, because the fingerprint in the signed record is taken from those bytes. Anyone holding the file can hash it and get the same string.

A published record cannot be edited, and the account that ran the draw cannot delete it. It stays for five years from completion and is then deleted along with its file. You cannot quietly redo a draw whose outcome you dislike, which is what makes the record worth showing to anyone.

That rule applies to your mistakes as well. A wrong file or a wrong winner count stays on record next to the corrected draw. Run a test draw with the real file first; it costs nothing and stores nothing. And if your own retention rules run longer than five years, download the file and keep a copy of the result before then.

Promotion entry lists usually hold names, email addresses, receipt or order numbers. A public draw would publish all of that for anyone to download. A private draw keeps the winners and the file behind a password you choose and leaves it off the public records list. The signed record is produced the same way, and anyone with the draw ID can check it on the verify page without the password. The record itself carries counts and fingerprints, not entries, so checking it exposes nothing from your list.

Two questions the record can answer for a participant who complains are whether they were in the draw at all, and whether anything changed after the fact. The participant, or you on their behalf, can open the file attached to the result and find their entry. Hashing that file gives the source list fingerprint shown on the verify page, which shows it is the file recorded when the draw completed. The signature shows the record has not changed since. The completion time is in the record, and so is the beacon pulse, which NIST publishes at a known minute.

What the record cannot show is that the selection was fair. A signature proves who issued a record and that it is unaltered, and the operator of any signing service signs whatever it produces. Our terms say so plainly. The method, from the seed to the shuffle before places are assigned, is published in full on the draw mechanics page for anyone who wants to examine it.

For a private draw, a participant needs the password to open the file. Decide before the promotion whether you will give it to participants who ask, and put that in the rules.

Write the draw into the official rules before it happens: which list is drawn from, how many winners, how alternates are chosen, and whether repeated entries count. Winner Picker does not remove duplicates. If the rules allow one entry per person, clean the file first and check that the upload step reports no duplicate entries. There is no reserve-winner setting either; drawing more winners than prizes and naming the extra places as alternates, in order, covers it.

Identify entrants by something they already hold, such as the order number on a receipt, so nobody can suggest identifiers were handed out after the draw. A draw of 50,000 entries costs 176 tokens, with any number of winners, and tokens bought for a company are invoiced to that company. Rates for other sizes are on the pricing page.

Compliance stays with you. Prize promotions are regulated differently from country to country: some require registered rules or a permit, and a promotion that requires a purchase can be treated differently in law from a free prize draw. Using this service is not evidence that a promotion is lawful.