A raffle is a fundraiser or prize draw where people buy numbered tickets, and one (or several) tickets are drawn at random to win a prize. Raffles are staples of school fundraisers, charity galas, office parties, and community events. They're simple to run, but the moment of the draw carries all the trust — if the draw looks rigged or careless, the whole event feels cheap.
Choose your raffle format first
Before you can pick a winner, you need to know what kind of raffle you're running. The format determines how the draw works.
- Single-prize draw: one winner takes the top prize. Simplest format.
- Multi-prize draw: a first, second, and third prize drawn in order, with no ticket winning twice.
- Weighted raffle: more tickets = more chances. Each ticket has its own number and is entered separately.
- Bucket raffle: tickets go into a literal (or virtual) bucket and one is drawn blind.
The right way to draw a winner
Whatever the format, the draw itself needs to be (a) random and (b) verifiable. The old-school method — pulling a folded paper out of a hat — is random enough but hard to verify after the fact. A digital draw using a random number generator or a wheel is both random and easy to record.
WheelsHub's Random Number Generator is the simplest way to draw a numbered-ticket raffle: enter your ticket range (say, 1 to 500), set 'how many' to the number of prizes, tick 'unique' so no ticket wins twice, and generate. The Bingo Number Caller works for the same job and has the bonus of calling out the number in classic bingo format for in-person events. For a more visual draw, the Raffle Picker template spins a wheel pre-loaded with the raffle format.
Number every ticket sold (most raffle systems do this automatically).
Note your ticket range — e.g. tickets 001–348 sold.
Open WheelsHub's Random Number Generator or the Raffle Picker template.
Set min=1, max=348 (or your actual range), count=number of prizes, unique=on.
Generate on stage or on camera so the draw is witnessed.
Announce the winning ticket numbers immediately and verify against the sold-ticket list.
If you have unsold ticket numbers in your range, generate a few backup winners too. If your first winner's number turns out to be unsold, draw the next backup — no awkward re-spinning on stage.
Weighted raffles (more tickets = more chances)
In a weighted raffle, every ticket has its own number and is entered individually. If Alex bought 5 tickets (numbers 12, 13, 14, 15, 16) and Jordan bought 1 (number 17), Alex has 5 times the odds. The Random Number Generator handles this naturally — just draw from the full range of ticket numbers sold, and whoever owns that number wins.
Proving the draw was fair
Transparency is everything. Record the draw on video, have a witness, and announce the winning numbers immediately. If you're running the raffle online, share a screenshot of the random number generator showing the result. The more visible the randomness, the more your participants will trust the outcome — and the more likely they are to buy tickets next year.
What to do if the winner can't be reached
- Set a claim deadline in your raffle rules — typically 30 days
- If the winner doesn't claim within the deadline, draw a new winner from the same ticket pool
- Keep the original winning ticket on record in case of a late claim dispute
- For high-value prizes, consider requiring a signed claim form before the prize ships
Run a raffle with a transparent random draw and you'll earn trust that pays off in ticket sales for years. Run it with a haphazard draw and you'll spend the next year fielding 'was it rigged?' questions.