Bauer & Global competition rules and restrictions

If you’re a keen comper, you may already be aware of the rules surrounding comps hosted by certain media and radio brands – and the limitations on prizes you can win from them! These rules were introduced for on-air radio promotions, to stop the same people winning major prizes regularly – but they apply to other media too.

I’m taking a look at the T&Cs used by Global and Bauer – and the brands they own, which are most of the big commercial radio stations in the UK. I’ve also included a look at the T&Cs for Wireless Group, who own Virgin Radio and Talk Sport. It’s worth reading this post so you’re aware of the rules – it may help you decide whether or not to enter certain competitions or not!

To confirm, if you are on a 6 month ban from entering Bauer competitions, it’s fine to enter Global competitions (and vice versa) as they are two completely different companies. 

Bauer

Bauer have a set of general competition Terms and Conditions and also specific T&Cs for individual competitions. The general T&Cs apply to all competitions, from the free online prize draws to the standard-rate and premium rate text entry promotions.

These general T&Cs state that you must enter a competition once only, and use your legal name. If Bauer believe you have made multiple entries using different phone numbers, email addresses, or social media accounts, all entries will be void. 

If the general terms and specific terms contradict each other, then the specific terms take priority (eg. the general Bauer terms state it’s a maximum of 1 entry per person for each competition, but the specific Cash Register terms have different limits). When you enter a Bauer competition you are agreeing to both the general and specific sets of T&Cs. 

Once you’ve won a prize valued at £500 or more from any Bauer brand, you’re not eligible to win a prize from any Bauer brand during the next 6 months:

So that we can ensure fairness of our Competitions we reserve the right to prevent a person to win more than one prize valued at £500 or more via any of our Competitions in any given six (6) month period. For avoidance of doubt this means that an entrant will not be eligible to win any prize if the entrant has in the past six (6) months won a prize valued at £500 or more.  We reserve the right to disqualify your mobile phone number from future Competitions during this period.

T&Cs for individual competitions also reiterate this point. It’s OK for people at the same address to continue entering Bauer giveaways, as it’s only an individual ban (not a ban on your household members). 

If you win a single prize worth £500 or more, you can’t win another prize worth any value for the following six months (starting from the date you won the prize). So if you’re entering a promotion such as Kissmas where you specify the value of the prize you want, keeping it under £500 might be your best bet! And if you are lucky enough to win a high value prize with Bauer, remember that their T&Cs affect a huge range of brands (see www.bauermedia.co.uk/brands) – so if you win a holiday on Magic FM, don’t go entering Absolute’s web comp to win £1000 the following month. You can enter to win multiple prizes valued at less than £500 – it’s only when you win a biggie that the 6 month ban comes into force! 

It’s also ok to enter Bauer competitions during your six month ban, as long as they have a closing date AFTER your six month ban ends!

Bauer radio brands

Bauer TV brands

  • The Box Plus Network (includes Kerrang!, Kiss & Magic)

Global

Global updated their general terms and conditions in 2023, and they are published on the website of each of their radio stations (read them on the Heart website). Like Bauer, each individual competition has its own set of specific rules too. If these specific rules conflict with the general T&Cs (eg. allowing more than one entry), the specific rules will prevail. When you enter a competition you are agreeing to both the general and specific T&Cs. 

New additions include that entrants must be based in the UK at the time of entering (so don’t call in if you’re currently abroad on holiday!). You must use your real name, and if they call back it must be you that answers. They will only call back the number that entered – so if for example you get through to play an on air competition by calling from a friend’s phone, you could be disqualified. If you win a prize and take a guest with you, the guest must comply with T&Cs (so you couldn’t take a friend on a prize holiday who’s on a six month Global exclusion period, for example!)

Like Bauer, Global general T&Cs only allow one entry per person. For example, entries from the same IP address, email address, postal address, or telephone number may be considered suspicious and be disqualified. If you win, you will need to show proof of your ID, age and address – and maybe even proof that your voice matches the on air winner!

If you win a high value prize (over £1,000) with Global, you cannot win any more Global promotions for the following six months. If you win two prizes valued at less than £1,000 each, you will get a six month ban too. Note that these rules only apply to the prizewinner – not to other household members. 

So that we can ensure the fairness of our Promotions, you acknowledge and agree that if you win a prize in any of our Promotions valued at £1,000 or above; or if you have won more than one prize during the previous six months then we reserve the right to withdraw from you, at our absolute discretion, any prize awarded to you, in error or otherwise, during a period of six months (“Exclusion Period”). You will be reminded of this when you provide your details during the prize fulfilment stage so there can be no doubt or confusion on your behalf that you accept and agree to participate in our Promotions in accordance with these Terms and Conditions. If you do enter any Promotion during the Exclusion Period, you may be disqualified and we reserve the right to: (i) select another entrant to participate in the Promotion; (ii) impose either a further exclusion period of twelve months from the date of your last entry attempt, or a longer or permanent ban, if we deem this necessary or appropriate; and/or (iii) disqualify your mobile phone number(s) and email addresses from future Promotions during this Exclusion Period. If you are disqualified, entry fees (if any) will not be refunded. You understand that if you enter our Promotions using multiple mobile phone numbers or email addresses, even if registered to you, this clause will still apply.

Global Radio

  • Smooth
  • Classic
  • Heart
  • LBC
  • Capital
  • Gold
  • Radio X

Win + 

Win+ is Global’s paid entry platform, hosting competitions across all their radio station websites. Multiple entries are permitted across the Win+ platform up to a maximum of £24 spend per day. Entrants must agree to specific and general Global T&Cs when they take part, and if you win a prize on Win+ it’s OK to continue entering until Global tell you otherwise (as this is a paid platform, I assume Global don’t restrict your wins, as banning entrants for 6 months would reduce their revenue!)

If you have any problems, contact customer.support@global.com stating the details of the competition and which station it was on.


Wireless Group

Wireless Group own Virgin Radio and Talk Sport, as well as a number of smaller Irish stations, and you can find their general competition T&Cs on the Virgin Radio website. You can only enter each competition once. 

Wireless are much stricter than Global and Bauer, and if you win a prize of any value with a Wireless Group station (online or on air), you’re not allowed to enter any of their competitions for a full 12 months!

….anyone who has won a prize on any radio station or website operated by the Promoter within the last 12 months are not eligible to enter any Competition

Have you won a prize with Bauer or Global, and had a problems claiming it? Let me know in the comments! 


27 Responses

  1. PDC says:

    If comps are enter once only, does that mean that i can’t enter a bauer comp on both magic and absolute radio comp pages?

  2. KelleyP says:

    Hi Di, thank you for this very informative blog. I won £500 through a That’s Life magazine comp (Bauer) on 31 March 2021 and presume I cannot enter again until October now. However, I did wonder if I could enter Bauer comps between now and then, if they have a closing date beyond 30 September?

    • Di says:

      Great question! It doesn’t say you can’t enter for six months – it says you can’t WIN, so some of the long closing date comps online I think would be OK!

    • PDC says:

      I asked someone at bauer and she said it was OK to enter comps as long as they close after your exclusion date ends

  3. Debbie Griffin says:

    Can I just ask, as I’m having trouble finding an answer to this question. If I enter one of the radio competitions where they ask you to text, (which costs £2.00 plus service provider’s standard charge), but they also offer free online entry – has anyone ever won from a free online entry in this situation? I’m more than a little skeptical, as an online entry won’t generate any money …..

    • Di says:

      Yes! Two SuperLucky readers have won with Absolute Radio in the last 6 months with the free entries (£50k and £10k). I also know Planet Rock and Kiss winners who used the free online route!

  4. Allison Cartwright says:

    Hi Di been trying to fathom out the radio competitions. There was one today where you had to text in when you heard an Ed Sheeran song which i did but there are various prizes to win £300 £3,000 and £30,000 I texted when I heard it once but then in the afternoon someone won £30,000 and said they had heard it 3 times what im wanting to know is if they happened to ring me later in the day and i said i had heard it once would i be correct does it have to be the amount you heard it when you texted

    • Di says:

      Each competition is only open for the duration of the artist’s song(s), so you would get the call just after the song(s) ended. So if you texted at 10am during a song, they would call the winner at about 10.05am. You would need to enter again in the afternoon – your entry doesn’t roll over into subsequent draws. To be honest though, I would completely avoid the paid entry comps and stick to the free entry ones! https://superlucky.me/win-cash-prizes-online-in-free-competitions/

  5. Beverley Cousins says:

    Hi Di, i’m hoping you can help me. I won a big money comp on magic a 5yrs ago now and never won anything from them again. I went on air with them to be told i had won and everything went smoothly, about 3 weeks after i had a phone call asking if i would go back on air and tell them of the experience of winning it. I said yes, but unfortunaley i was taken very ill & ended up in hospital on that day they phoned me and i couldn’t answer them while live on air.. I was just wondering, that because i didn’t go back on air with them, would they totally ban me from any of their competitions permanently? Thanks for any advice

    • Di says:

      I do wonder what notes radio stations keep next to your name on their systems! I recently got through twice to a radio station for a £1000 prize quiz (two consecutive days) – both days they said they would call me back, and they didn’t. I won with them last year, so I was wondering if they had a note of that? You could always get an extra SIM card and pop it in an old handset, and use that handset for radio comps!

      • Beverley Cousins says:

        Sorry for late reply Di, just read your message . I changed my number over about 2yrs ago now because i changed company with a new sim card. I was wondering because i enter through their website on free entries (can’t afford txt comps) do they know my email,name and phone number? Would it be worth changing my email address and enter my hubby’s name on it, or will they see it’s coming from the same IP address? I also enter their mag comps where my email is reg on their too?

  6. Jem says:

    Hi Diane. I had a missed call today from a London number but it was not withheld so I managed to get through when I phoned back. I spoke to gentleman from a radio station who said that there are 8 radio stations just in that building alone. I was in a meeting when I missed the call so would you assume that meant I had missed out on a prize? It was at around 2:30pm this afternoon.
    I’ll be devastated if I’ve missed something, I’ve been comping solidly since May and had no luck so far winning anything!

    • Di says:

      Ah what a pain! Unless it was an on-air competition (ie. urgent!) they would usually try and call you back.

  7. Anna Clarke says:

    Hi Di,
    Sorry for this question as you may have heard it time and time before. Please can I just clarify the following do Bauer STILL notify you in writing of a ban? I won an Apple Watch and Ipod pros this week. I have already received the watch. No paper work notifying me of a ban. I have spoken to a producer at the station twice and neither time did they mention a ban. I don’t know the true value of the items… am I ok to carry on?

    • Di says:

      I don’t think Bauer ever contact people to let them know there’s a ban (it’s Global that do this) – and I don’t think they would check unless you won a high value prize. But you should probably ask yourself is it worth the risk if you win a holiday, and then have the prize retracted because they discover you won an Apple Watch a month before? It’s up to you!

  8. Samantha Fergie says:

    Hi Di! I won £6139.42 via cool fm radio (Bauer) on Tuesday 3rd December. Essentially I had to answer my phone and say that exact cash amount to win. Still really cannot believe my luck right before Christmas! Last Monday (9th Dec) I received a call from a woman at the radio station who took my bank details and said I should have the money by Friday past, but still nothing! I’m hoping it’ll be in by this Friday 20th December. I keep worrying – did I give the wrong bank details (but I’m almost certain I gave the correct details!)

    • Di says:

      Give them a call if you’re worried Samantha! Call the main number for the radio station and see if you can find the lady you spoke to.

  9. Tracey says:

    I won £500 in vouchers with Bauer but they haven’t told me I cant enter any more. Would they tell me?

    • Di says:

      I must admit I’ve never heard of them enforcing this rule even though it’s in their terms, Tracey! My fear would be that if you did win a second big prize, they would check your details and then refuse to honour it, which would be rotten!

  10. Hi Di, today I have received two tickets to a Phil Collins concert that I won with Absolute radio. The letter says I must refrain from taking part in all Absolute Radio competitions for a period of six months. I don’t think the tickets are worth more than £500 so do you know why I have been banned? And does this mean I can enter all other Bauer Media comps just not ones on Absolute radio? Do you think I should query it or just accept it? There is a telephone number on the letter but I don’t want to seem cheeky by asking. Hope you can guide me, many thanks

    • Di says:

      That seems odd for concert tickets, which surely must be worth much less? Although if it only mentions Absolute, you’ll be fine entering on Kiss, Magic etc! If you like, email me the phone number from the letter – if it’s the main Bauer marketing department it would be good to get the rules/regulations clarified!

  11. natalie zindani says:

    Di, I won a biggie with Global last week but they haven’t notified me of any exclusions does that mean I can carry on?

  12. rosierowe says:

    Thanks Di… I wasn’t aware of Bauer’s reach! I must admit, I love that Holland & Barrett, for example, don’t work like that. If I win from someone, I usually don’t enter their comps for at least a month, just not to seem greedy I suppose. I’ll have to start checking Ts&Cs more carefully. 🙂

  13. Clare Walmsley says:

    I didn’t know this – thanks for highlighting, that’s really helpful.

  14. Cherry Newby says:

    This is hugely useful – thanks Di. I have started reading the T’s and C’s of every competition I enter and found that often they contain clauses I wouldn’t have been aware of. It just goes to show how important the small print can be!

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