Raffle Picker and Raffle Wheel

How to use it

1. Build the ticket poolEnter the first and last ticket number and press Use this range, or type buyers one per line with their ticket count, like Ana *5.
2. Choose the prizesSet Winners in Options to your prize count. The first ticket drawn takes the first prize, the second takes the next, and so on.
3. Draw a ticketPress Draw a ticket. The winning tickets appear in order, on the raffle wheel if you switched to it, and the verifiable draw adds a proof link to post with the results.

What the raffle picker does

• Works as an online raffle generator for ticket numbers up to 99,999, or for names with *n tickets each.
• Is a raffle wheel generator for small draws: Spin on a wheel puts up to 200 tickets on a raffle wheel spinner.
• Draws several winners in order, from the top prize down, with a verifiable draw on by default.
• Is a free raffle wheel and raffle spinner with no sign-up; the tickets stay in your browser.

Two ways to fill the drum

Numbers mode suits a roll of printed tickets. Type the first and last ticket in Tickets from and To, press Use this range, and every number between them becomes one line in the list. The range can run as high as 99,999 numbers, although a draw that large makes a long proof link, more on that below. The page opens with tickets 1 to 200 already filled in as a starting point; replace them with your own range.

Names mode suits sign-up sheets and online sales. Write each buyer on a line, followed by their tickets: Ana *5 means Ana holds five tickets. You can mix the two, for example by writing numbers for walk-up sales and names for pre-orders, as long as every line stands for something you can match to a person later.

Whichever you pick, type the event and the date into the title field, for example Fall fair raffle, 12 October. The title is part of what gets fingerprinted and appears on the proof page, so a later reader can tell which raffle a link belongs to. Save the wheel on this device if you plan to run the same raffle again next year. For a small draw shown on screen, press Spin on a wheel: up to 200 tickets or buyers go onto a raffle wheel, each slice sized by the tickets it holds, and the wheel turns to the ticket that was drawn. Larger pools stay as large numbers. The number wheel is the same idea for plain numbers without prizes.

Draw only the tickets that were actually sold

A range assumes every number in it exists. Real rolls have gaps: a torn ticket, a block returned unsold, a number reserved for a sponsor. After you press Use this range, the list is an ordinary text box, so delete the missing numbers before you draw. If you leave them in, the machine may land on a ticket nobody holds and you will have to redraw in front of the crowd.

Do a quick sanity check first. Count the lines against your sales record. If you sold 180 tickets and the list says 200, something needs fixing. The draw will treat whatever is in the box as the complete truth.

More tickets, better odds

A person with several tickets has proportionally more chances. In names mode the share is simply their tickets divided by all tickets in the pool, and the picker shows the chance on each result. The table below shows a small example with ten tickets sold.

A buyer can win only one prize per draw. Once Ana is drawn for first prize she leaves the pool, and the second draw is made from the remaining tickets: if Ana won, Ben then holds 3 of the 5 remaining tickets, which is 60 percent. Say this in your rules so the crowd is not surprised when a buyer with many tickets does not take every prize.

Prizes in order, biggest first

Set Winners in Options to your prize count and read the results from top to bottom. The first ticket drawn gets the top prize, the second ticket the next one, and a ticket can never be drawn twice in the same round. If you prefer to hand out the small prizes first for suspense, simply announce the list in reverse; the order of the draw does not change.

At a live event, put the page on a big screen and read each number out as it appears. Keep the reserve idea in mind too: draw one more ticket than you have prizes, so if a winner has left the room you can move on without starting again.

Say on the ticket, or on a sign by the table, when prizes must be collected. A common rule is that a prize not claimed within a stated time goes to the next ticket drawn. Because the results come out as an ordered list, moving to the reserve needs no new draw and no new argument. Prizes handed out at a booth with odds per prize are better on the prize wheel.

A school fair example

A parents' association sells 240 raffle tickets at a spring fair, numbered 1 to 240, for four prizes: a bike, a book hamper, a pizza gift card and a kite. Ticket 77 was torn and 130 to 139 went to a stall that did not sell them. On the evening, the organizer enters 1 and 240, presses Use this range, deletes those eleven numbers, and checks that 229 lines remain against the sales book.

She sets Winners to five and names the draw Spring fair raffle. The five tickets appear in order on the gym projector; she reads the first four out for the four prizes and keeps the fifth as a reserve in case a ticket holder has gone home. The proof link goes onto the school's newsletter that night, next to the list of sold ticket numbers, so a parent can open it and recheck the result.

Keeping the proof link manageable

The verifiable draw is on by default here. It fingerprints the list, reserves a beacon round shortly ahead, and works out the winning tickets from that round when it appears. The proof link includes the whole list, so keep the list below a few thousand lines.

If you sold hundreds of tickets to a handful of people, there is a neat shortcut: write one line per buyer with a weight instead of one line per ticket. Forty tickets held by one person is a single line, Ana *40, and the odds are identical. One line can hold at most 1,000 tickets, so split a larger holder over two lines. The result then names the buyer, and you match the number to the stub afterwards. Why the pick itself is fair is shown, with a live test, in is spin the wheel random.

Know the rules before you sell a ticket

Raffles are regulated in many places, often more strictly than free giveaways. Selling tickets for a chance at a prize can require a permit or a charity registration, limit who may run it, or cap prize values. Schools, clubs and small businesses are not automatically exempt. Check the rules where you operate before tickets go on sale.

TwirlPick is not a lottery operator and does not collect money, sell tickets or contact winners. It supplies the random draw and a record of it. If you cannot run a paid raffle where you live, a free-entry prize draw, with tickets given away at the door, is the usual alternative to check with a local adviser.