Verifiable prize draws
What makes a prize draw independently verifiable?
A draw is verifiable when somebody who does not trust the operator can still confirm the result. Not because they were told. Because they checked.
A definition
An independently verifiable prize draw is one where a third party, using only published information, can confirm three things:
- The entry list used for the draw is the one that existed when entries closed.
- The random input was not chosen by anybody with an interest in the result.
- Applying that random input to that list produces the published winner.
If any of the three depends on taking somebody's word for it, the draw is not independently verifiable. It might still be fair. You just cannot show it.
The traditional trust model
In most online draws the operator, or the platform, holds the list, generates a random number and announces a winner. Sometimes the moment is filmed. Sometimes a random number website is shown on screen.
None of that lets an outsider confirm that the list was complete and unaltered, or that the number was not re-rolled until a convenient one appeared. The customer is being asked to trust a process they cannot see into.
Filming the button press does not show what the button does.
The Beaver model
Beaver replaces each point of trust with a published fact.
- Entry commitment. A cryptographic fingerprint of the final eligible list is published before selection. Any later change would break it.
- Randomness. A public source is named before its value exists, so nobody can choose it.
- Selection. The winner is derived from the committed list and that randomness, without avoidable bias, and a changed list is refused.
- Verification. The values needed to reproduce the result are published, and a public verifier checks them.
Live All four are live in the Beaver draw engine.
Why operators should care
Trust is a commercial asset in this category. Customers who can check a result have one less reason to doubt it, and one less reason to complain about it.
It also helps operationally. Promotional marketing guidance from CAP expects prize promotions to be administered fairly, including how winners are selected, and the DCMS Voluntary Code is aimed at transparency and accountability. Verifiable draws do not make a promotion compliant, but they make one part of it demonstrable.
Read more about the UK framework and the DCMS Code.
What verification does not cover
Verification proves how the winner was selected from the committed entries. It does not prove that the promotion was lawfully structured, that the prize was accurately described or that the winner received it. Those need their own evidence.
Evidence of the draw is exactly that. Evidence of the draw.
Questions
Asked and answered
Is a filmed draw verifiable?
Not independently. A video shows that a process happened, not that the list was complete or that the random value was not chosen.
Is "provably fair" the same thing?
The phrase is often used without the proof. We prefer to publish the values and let people check.
Do customers need technical knowledge to verify?
No. A public verifier does the checking. People who want to can also reproduce it themselves.
Does Beaver verify instant wins?
Yes. The instant win allocation is committed before sales open. Game formats such as scratch cards or wheels are not available today.
Primary sources
Where this page gets its facts
- CAP: Promotional marketing (prize promotions)(opens in a new tab)The CAP Code, section 8, covers the administration of prize promotions.
- DCMS: Voluntary Code of Good Practice for Prize Draw Operators(opens in a new tab)Published 20 November 2025.
Checked 19 September 2026. Guidance changes; always read the current version at source.
