Sweepstake Generator

This sweepstake generator does the draw for you: names in one box, teams or horses in the other, then one tap and everyone knows who they’ve got. Eight people and 24 teams? Each person gets three. It’s free, it runs on your phone, and you can print the result for the office wall or copy it into the group chat.

How to run a sweepstake with the generator

1. Add the people, one name per line. Paying twice for two entries? Put the name in twice.
2. Add the entries: football teams, Grand National runners, Eurovision acts, golfers. No list to hand? Type the number of entries and tap Fill to get 1, 2, 3 and so on. Then match the numbers to the racecard.
3. Draw. The entries are shuffled and dealt round one at a time, the way you’d deal cards, so nobody ends up with all the favourites by luck of the order.

When the numbers don’t divide evenly

A 48-team football tournament split between 10 people is 4 teams each with 8 left over. You’ve got two choices:

• Deal out every entry (ticked): 8 people get a fifth team. Who gets the extras is random too, not the first names on the list.
• Same number each (unticked): everyone gets 4 and the 8 spare teams sit out. Fairer on paper, but if a spare team wins, nobody does.

A common fix for the second option is to sell the leftover entries for an extra pound each, or to draw them separately with the spin the wheel tool.

Sweepstake ideas and rules people argue about

Grand National sweeps usually pay the winner most of the pot, with smaller amounts for second, third and fourth. Football sweeps often add a prize for the team that concedes the most goals, so whoever draws the minnows still has something to cheer. Decide the split before the draw, write it on the printout, and the arguments are over before they start.

If you’d rather run a numbered raffle with printed tickets, use the raffle ticket generator. For a single name out of a hat, the random number generator is quicker.