Win cash prizes online in free competitions

People love to imagine what they’d do with a big cash windfall, and lots of us spend hard-earned money on National Lottery tickets for the chance to win big. But did you know there are lots of opportunities to win tax-free cash prizes up to £100,000 in the UK – and you can enter for FREE online? 

To win big money, you don’t need to pay £2 for a phone call to ITV, or send a premium rate £1.50 text message to Heart FM. There are lots of competitions where you can enter online, and it won’t cost you a penny. In fact, SuperLucky readers have won cash prizes as huge as £70,000 in free-to-enter competitions and prize draws – and two members of my Lucky Learners Facebook group have won on Bauer’s Cash Register using the online free entry route, one winning £61,000 and one winning £35,303! And in July 2022 a group member won £60,000 when they answered the phone with ‘Make me a Winner’ after doing their free online entries that day!

In this post – which I’ll update regularly – I’ll share some ways you can find cash prizes online. If you’re looking for current FREE entry online radio comps to win BIG cash prizes, scroll to the end of the post!

Win cash prizes in online free prize draws

It’s tempting to enter the big cash prize draws you see advertised on Google, or on competition website home pages, but these get many thousands of entries – and in return for sharing your details you can expect to be bombarded with spam calls, emails, text messages or post.

Before you enter competitions online, make sure you trust the brand, and that the prize draw is hosted on a genuine website or social media page. If you’re asked to give too much information before you can submit an entry, be suspicious.

Many websites are desperately trying to get you to opt in to receive marketing emails, calls and mail from other ‘third party’ companies. My advice is to be wary of any prize draws that are heavily promoted on Google such as MyOffers or Winnersville . Check my list of competition websites post to find out which websites you can trust. If you want to find lots of comps in one place, the Loquax forum is easy to navigate, and once registered and logged in you can go directly to the Cash & Vouchers category.

There are often cash prizes up for grabs in free instant win comps, and daily free lottery draws, such as Pick My Postcode (*this is my referral link). Find all of these on my regularly updated list of Instant Wins and Daily Draws.

Recommended prize draw: Win £1500 cash with Boofle. Enter at www.boofle.co.uk/competition before 14 February 2023!

TV Cash prize draws with FREE entry

Look out for free online entry cash prizes on the ITV competitions page too – for the Free Cash Friday promotion you can only enter between 5pm on a Wednesday and 7.45am on a Friday. You’ll need to be ready to answer your phone if Andi Peters calls you on Friday morning! Find out how to enter Free Cash Friday here – it’s not a permanent competition, so you won’t always find it on the ITV site!

Win cash prizes in magazines

Puzzle magazines

Magazines like Puzzler and Take a Break Puzzles give away loads of cash prizes – but you don’t need to buy the magazines or complete the puzzles to enter these! Generous puzzlers share the answers online, and then you can enter these answers for free on the puzzle mag websites.  You’ll need to tick the box to say you’ve read T&Cs but opting in to receive all the other information is optional, so I recommend not ticking the rest of the boxes.

• Enter Take a Break Puzzle Magazine competitions (part of the Bauer group, includes Closer, Eclipse and That’s Life branded magazines) at www.puzzlemagazines.co.uk/competitions. You can enter Take a Break comps without registering for the website.

• Enter Puzzler Magazine competitions (including Tesco and Q branded magazines) at www.puzzler.com/competitions/. You’ll need to register to enter Puzzler comps – then simply type in the reference number of the competition to quickly access the appropriate entry form.

Weekly magazines

Some weekly magazines also feature cash prize puzzles – again, you can find the answers posted on forums by kind compers. After entering, don’t tick the opt in boxes at the end of the entry form and tick not interested in any offers – otherwise you’ll be bombarded with spam emails, calls and post!

I’ve flagged up Bauer Group mags in this list – if you win a prize worth more than £500, you can’t win another large prize with Bauer for a 6 month period.

How to enter weekly magazine puzzle competitions:

• Chat magazine puzzle competitions (registration required)
• Real People puzzle competitions (registration required)
• That’s Life competitions (Bauer)
• Bella competitions (Bauer)
• TV Choice competitions (Bauer)
• Take a Break competitions (Bauer)
• Love It puzzle competitions (registration required)
• Enter Inside Soap comps by emailing competitions@insidesoap.co.uk

Where to find the answers to magazine puzzles

Puzzle answers are generously posted on several free websites by users. Make sure you have the correct issue number before you click through to enter the competitions!

• Money Saving Expert – search for the names of women’s weeklies like Chat, Real People and That’s Life. Puzzle mags have their own dedicated threads – log in and use the Bookmark function to get a notification when there’s a new reply:
  • Take A Break Puzzle Magazines
  • MSE Competition Time: Puzzler

• Latest Deals – Puzzles and women’s magazine answers are listed under cash & vouchers competitions – search for the magazine title

• Loquax – you’ll need to register to access the Loquax forum. Comps are posted in the main online comps forum, so use the search function to look for the magazine name (eg. Puzzles, Puzzler)

• Deanys Designs – women’s weekly mags each have their own menu tabs on Deanys site, and puzzle mags are on the Other Comps tab

Sending stories to magazines

Another way to win cash in magazines is to submit your stories, letters and photos – it’s a good idea to read a copy of the magazine so you can get an idea of the kind of articles that are featured, before you send your own submissions.

Read magazines for free!

Rather than buy magazines, use an app to browse the weeklies like Chat, Real People and Pick Me Up to see what kind of stories, letters, tips and photos they print. You can also do the puzzles – if you have an iPhone take a screenshot and use the Markup tool to write your answers on screen.

Sign up for the Pressreader app with your UK library card details for FREE access to hundreds of magazines!

Win cash prizes on radio station websites

Most UK radio stations regularly feature cash competitions on their websites and also on air, usually in conjunction with a new film release, mobile phone company or big brand.

Free entry website prize draws

Here’s links to the competition pages of the main nationwide stations – bookmark these into a folder so you can check weekly for new comps! Bauer and Global stations often give away £1000 cash prizes.

• Absolute (Bauer)
• Capital (Global)
• Classic (Global)
• Gold (Global)
• Kiss (Bauer)
• Heart (Global)
• Heat Radio (Bauer)
• Magic FM (Bauer)
• Radio X (Global)
• Smooth (Global)
• TalkSport
• Virgin
• Hits Radio (Bauer)

Free entry alternatives to premium rate text competitions

Several UK radio stations give the option of entering a text competition online for free – although this entry method is usually kept quiet. To find the entry form, look for the competition on the radio station’s website and read the terms and conditions.

If there’s a free entry method, there should be a tiny entry form at the end of the T&Cs (see example below from the Absolute website).

Pop your name and number in and keep your fingers crossed – check the T&Cs too, as they will say how many times you can enter for free on the form.

Read the rules before entering!

Some radio promotions are just a simple prize draw and all you have to do is answer the call within a certain number of rings to win the prize. The call is usually not long after the closing time/date for entries – and it’s usually five rings!

For other promotions, you might need to know the answer to a question, such as a certain cash amount or the musical artist of the day. These answers are usually broadcast during the station’s breakfast show – if you’re called, you will need to give the correct answer for that day to be a winner! Unsurprisingly, a lot of entrants fail at this because they’re not listening in. For a better chance of getting it right, team up with your friends – arrange to listen on different days and share the answers you hear in a private Facebook or Whatsapp group. Write the answer on a Post-it note and attach it to your phone or laptop so you can see it if they call you!

Make sure you will be available to take the call at the specific time – otherwise, it’s pointless entering.

Current free entry UK radio competitions with cash prizes

For some on-air radio competitions you will have to register online for free in advance – you don’t need to listen to the radio! If you’re chosen to play you’ll usually be called the day before.

Here are some current easy free entry prize draws on UK radio websites. You will not be live on air if you win – they’ll just email you! Create an account first, then log in and enter.

• Win £1,000 and Butlins Weekend tickets with Absolute Radio. Enter here – the answer is 3 nights. Closing date is 16 July 2023.
• Win £1,000 with We Buy Any Car and Heart. Enter here (just play the easy game) – closing date is 31 March 2023.

The following Bauer promotions are advertised on air as premium rate text entry competitions BUT you can enter online for free. For some of them you will need to say a certain phrase or know the daily cash amount in order to win!

• Bauer Make Me A Winner – enter three times here before 3pm (scroll right to the end of the T&Cs for the form). Daily winners are called just after 3pm and you must answer your phone by saying ‘Make Me A Winner’ to win the cash amount! (you do not need to know what the amnount is, but you can check it on the dedicated post in my Lucky Learners Facebook group.

Bauer, Global & Wireless prize restrictions

Bauer Group own many UK magazines, TV channels and radio stations. If you win a prize worth £500 or more with Bauer, then nobody in your household can win another prize for a 6 month period. They will usually remind you of this, but it’s very clear in all their T&Cs.

Global Radio will usually inform you of a six month ban if you win one prize valued at £1000 or more – but this is not a set rule and if you receive no warning you can continue to enter their competitions.

Wireless group – owners of Virgin Radio and Talksport – usually include a term in their promotional T&Cs that states “Anyone who has won a prize for any Promotion run by participating radio stations in the Wireless network in the 12 months preceding the end of the Promotion Period is not eligible to enter.” – this is super strict as there’s no prize value stated, so a £20 voucher win would mean you couldn’t enter any comps for a full year on either of these stations!

Find out more in my post Bauer and Global prize restrictions.

Cash prize comps with low entry costs

If you don’t mind spending a small amount to enter cash prize competitions you can also try postcard entry, on-pack promotions and standard rate text competitions. There are often big cash prizes up for grabs in radio station phone-in comps too. Here’s some helpful links:

• How to enter ITV competitions for free
• Shopping list of current purchase necessary competitions
• List of current Tesco text-entry prize draws
• How to win radio competitions

Have you won a cash prize in a prize draw or competition with free online entry? Let me know in the comments!