How online raffles work on Raffair
Hosts publish a raffle, entrants buy tickets via Stripe Checkout, and funds sit in escrow until the draw. When the raffle closes a winner is picked with a publicly verifiable commit-reveal RNG combined with the drand beacon — anyone can re-derive the result. Cash prizes are paid from escrow; physical prizes are released after delivery is confirmed.
For entrants
Enter with confidence. Every draw is verifiable.
- 1Find a live raffle and buy tickets securely through Stripe Checkout.
- 2Your tickets and entries show up in your account straight away.
- 3When the raffle closes, the winner is drawn by a publicly verifiable process.
- 4Win cash? Confirm your details and we release your payout from escrow.
For hosts
Keep more of what your raffle raises.
- 1Sign up and complete Stripe Connect onboarding (managed KYC and payouts).
- 2Build your raffle in the wizard — prize, tickets, schedule, and legal route.
- 3See your net take across realistic sellout scenarios before you publish.
- 4We hold funds in escrow, run the draw, and pay your winner. You keep the rest.
If the target isn't met
A raffle that doesn't hit its goal still concludes — we don't just refund and waste everyone's effort. A winner is drawn and receives 40% of gross ticket revenue as cash. Hosts can choose at create-time to deliver the original prize instead.
Want the details?
- How a fair raffle draw works — commit-reveal, drand, and how to verify a result.
- How to run a raffle legally in the UK — society lottery vs prize competition vs free draw.
- Pricing — the flat 2.5% commission and what a £25,000 raffle actually costs.
Frequently asked questions
How does an online raffle work on Raffair?
A host creates a raffle (prize, ticket price, schedule, legal route). Entrants buy tickets via Stripe Checkout — funds are held in Stripe Connect escrow, not paid to the host directly. When the raffle closes, a winner is drawn using a commit-reveal RNG combined with the drand public randomness beacon. The host pays out the prize and Raffair releases the host's net take from escrow.
How is the winner drawn fairly?
We use a commit-reveal pattern. Before tickets go on sale, we publish a SHA-256 hash of a sealed seed. At draw time we reveal the seed plus a specific drand beacon round; anyone can re-derive the winner from the published seed, the drand value, and the ticket list. Every draw has a public verification page.
Why are my ticket numbers in sequence (#1, #2, #3…) instead of random?
Sequential numbering is the standard for raffles, both physical and online — every ticket gets the next available number when it sells, the same way numbered raffle books have always worked. It doesn't affect fairness: every ticket has identical probability of winning regardless of whether yours are #1–#5 or #347–#351. The winning number is picked from the full sold range at draw time by the commit-reveal RNG plus drand beacon, which no one (including us) can influence. Sequential numbers also keep the published ticket list auditable — anyone can see total tickets sold equals the highest number issued, with no gaps and no overlap.
Where does the ticket money go before the draw?
It sits in the host's Stripe Connect balance with payouts set to manual. Funds are not released to the host until the draw concludes and the prize is delivered (or the winner is paid for cash prizes).
What happens if my raffle doesn't reach its target?
It still concludes — we don't refund and waste everyone's effort. A winner is drawn and receives 40% of gross ticket revenue as cash, Raffair takes a 2.5% commission, and the host keeps the rest. Hosts can choose at create-time to deliver the original prize anyway.
Do entrants need to verify their identity?
Buyers can purchase tickets without identity verification up to a £150 cumulative-30-day threshold. Winners always complete identity verification before any payout — this is the source of the £150/30d gate, AML controls, and sanctions screening that we apply at claim time.