Is a screenshot of the winning wheel enough proof for a giveaway?

No. A static screenshot is trivially fakeable. Either live-stream the draw, post the full video recording, or run the draw in multiplayer mode so multiple devices independently witness the same spin in real time.

Should I weight paying subscribers higher than free followers?

It's normal and accepted as long as you publish the weights before the draw. Common patterns: sub gets 3x weight, tier-2 gets 6x, tier-3 gets 9x. Surprises break trust; pre-announcement protects it. Use the Name*N syntax on the wheel ('Alice*3').

What if a winner doesn't claim their prize?

Announce the claim window before the draw (e.g. '72 hours to respond or we redraw'). If they miss it, exclude them from the entry list and re-spin. Document this with a timestamp so the redraw doesn't look arbitrary.

Can I pick multiple winners in one draw?

Yes. Set 'Pick count' to the number of winners. The wheel spins once per winner, automatically excluding already-picked names, and shows the full winner list at the end. Works for both 'top 3 prizes' and 'three independent winners' cases.

Do I need a license to run a giveaway?

Depends on your jurisdiction and prize value. In the US and UK, a 'no purchase necessary' draw is generally exempt from gambling regulation; paid-entry raffles may need a license. Check local rules before running anything with cash prizes — fairness is necessary but not sufficient.

Running a fair online giveaway: a practitioner's guide

Published on May 9, 2026· 2 min read

By Spin of luck team

A practical guide for streamers, creators, and brand managers running giveaways online. Covers verifiability, weight rules, multi-prize patterns, and OBS integration.

Key Takeaways

Three properties of a fair online draw: secure RNG, visible entrant list, visible draw process.
Use weighted entries for tiered giveaways (sub*3, mod*10), and publish the weight rules before the draw.
For multi-prize draws, set Pick count to total winners — the wheel auto-excludes already-picked names.
Multiplayer mode produces independent witnesses on viewer devices, much stronger evidence than a screen-share recording.

Online giveaways have a credibility problem. Viewers can't see the draw happen the way they would at a physical event, and the host has every incentive to nudge results. Most viewers know this and are subtly suspicious of any winner announcement that happens off-camera. The fix is verifiability — making the draw public, reproducible, and auditable.

Three properties of a fair online draw

Random source: cryptographically secure RNG (crypto.getRandomValues), not Math.random(). Most professional giveaway tools get this right.
Visible entrant list: everyone watching the draw can verify what entries were included. The traditional 'we put all the names in a hat' fails this — viewers have to trust the hat. A URL-encoded entrant list passes — viewers verify the URL, then watch the spin.
Visible draw process: the spin happens on-screen in real time, with no post-edit. Live streaming or pre-recorded with timestamp evidence both work.

Weight patterns for tiered giveaways

If your giveaway treats different entrants differently (subs vs free, multi-ticket vs single-ticket), encode that in the wheel weights using the Name*N syntax:

Free follower: weight 1
Tier-1 sub: weight 3
Tier-2 sub: weight 6
Tier-3 sub: weight 9
Long-time mod: weight 10

Numbers above are illustrative — the right ratio is whatever your community considers fair. Publish the weight rule in your giveaway announcement; surprises are what break trust.

Multi-prize patterns

For draws with multiple prize tiers (1st place, 2nd, 3rd), set Pick count = total winners and let the wheel draw them in order. The wheel automatically excludes already-picked names, so a single multi-pick spin produces the full winner list with one click.

For independent prize draws (3 separate $50 prizes, 'each entrant can only win one'), use the same approach — the auto-exclude prevents an entrant from winning twice.

OBS / streaming integration

Two integration patterns work well for streamers:

Browser source overlay: add the wheel as an OBS browser source pointing to your giveaway-wheel URL. The wheel renders on stream, you spin from your laptop, viewers see the result with no extra setup.
Multiplayer mode for transparency: use the multiplayer-spin-wheel and share the room code in chat. Viewers join from their phones, see the same wheel, and watch the spin animate live on their device — independent of stream lag and verifiable from their side.

Run your next giveaway draw

Weighted entries, multi-prize picking, and shareable wheel URLs — built for live draws.

Open the Giveaway Wheel →

Common mistakes to avoid

Drawing off-camera and announcing the winner. Viewers will assume you cherry-picked. Always draw on stream.
Adding entrants after the announcement window closes. Even if it's well-intentioned, it breaks the entrant-list invariant. Lock the list before the spin.
Re-spinning if the result feels wrong. The entire point of randomness is that the result is binding. If you re-spin, you're running a curated draw with extra steps — declare that upfront or don't do it.
Using Math.random()-based tools for high-stakes draws. The credibility cost when someone questions the result is far higher than the engineering cost of using a secure RNG.

Frequently asked questions

Is a screenshot of the winning wheel enough proof for a giveaway?: No. A static screenshot is trivially fakeable. Either live-stream the draw, post the full video recording, or run the draw in multiplayer mode so multiple devices independently witness the same spin in real time.
Should I weight paying subscribers higher than free followers?: It's normal and accepted as long as you publish the weights before the draw. Common patterns: sub gets 3x weight, tier-2 gets 6x, tier-3 gets 9x. Surprises break trust; pre-announcement protects it. Use the Name*N syntax on the wheel ('Alice*3').
What if a winner doesn't claim their prize?: Announce the claim window before the draw (e.g. '72 hours to respond or we redraw'). If they miss it, exclude them from the entry list and re-spin. Document this with a timestamp so the redraw doesn't look arbitrary.
Can I pick multiple winners in one draw?: Yes. Set 'Pick count' to the number of winners. The wheel spins once per winner, automatically excluding already-picked names, and shows the full winner list at the end. Works for both 'top 3 prizes' and 'three independent winners' cases.
Do I need a license to run a giveaway?: Depends on your jurisdiction and prize value. In the US and UK, a 'no purchase necessary' draw is generally exempt from gambling regulation; paid-entry raffles may need a license. Check local rules before running anything with cash prizes — fairness is necessary but not sufficient.