Lottery rewards and draw mechanics
Answers when a lottery game doesn't behave as you expected: no winners yet, one entry per player, a draw that won't run.
A lottery game enters players in a draw instead of giving a prize on the spot. You pick the winners later, from Participants, with Declare Lottery Winners.
No winners appeared when the campaign ended
The draw doesn't run by itself. Open Participants and run it: see Run a lottery draw.
Players see an entry message, not a prize
That's expected. After playing, the game shows its Lottery Participation Message, and the reward itself shows its eligible message until the draw. Turn on the Eligible email to confirm each entry automatically: see Notification types.
Who gets which email
| Sent when | |
|---|---|
| Eligible | A player enters the draw |
| Winner | You declare them a winner |
| Loser | You choose Declare Losers when you run the draw |
A player who played five times has one entry
The draw picks participants, not plays. To give players who unlocked more touchpoints better odds, choose Weighted Chance as the Draw Method when you run the draw.
Run another draw later
Run Declare Lottery Winners again, as long as the reward has quantity left. Players who already won this lottery are left out automatically. To also leave out players who won a different reward, choose Exclude Previous Winners under Winner Restrictions.
The draw won't run
Why this happens
- Blacklisted contacts are always left out. If too few eligible players remain for Number of Winners, the draw stops instead of picking fewer.
Fix it
- Lower Number of Winners, or wait for more entries.
- Run the draw again.
If publishing is blocked
- The lottery reward has no eligible message: write it in the reward.
- The game has no participation message: write it on its Outcomes tab, under Lottery.
- The game has no lottery, or more than one: link exactly one, made for this game.