From collecting entries to announcing winners: how to draw fairly, how to show it live, what the rules usually require, and how a prize wheel differs from a winner draw.
01Collect entries your own way
The giveaway wheel is the draw, not the sign-up form. It does not collect names or emails. Gather entries with whatever fits your audience: a form, comments on a post, a booth sheet, your stream’s chat log. Then paste the entrant list here, one per line, and the wheel is ready.
For hundreds of entries, number them and draw with the random number generator with repeats off; a wheel with four hundred slivers is fair but unreadable on camera.
02Drawing the winners
Press SPIN for one winner, or type how many you need and use Pick in a row to draw several at once; each winner leaves the wheel so nobody wins twice, and the Winners list shows them in order. Copy the list to paste into your announcement.
If someone entered more than once and your rules allow one entry each, remove the duplicates before you spin. If multiple entries are allowed, leave them in: the extra slices are exactly the extra chance you promised.
- Pick in a row
- Draw several winners in one go, in order.
- Remove after picking
- On by default, so one person cannot win twice.
- Put entries back
- Reset for a second round or a different prize.
- Fullscreen
- Show just the wheel on stream or on a booth screen.
03Run the spin live
Show the full entry list before you spin so people can find their name. Spin with the Space bar rather than clicking around, go fullscreen, and keep the recording. On Twitch, Kick or YouTube, the stream overlay puts a transparent wheel straight into OBS; for a casual draw, screen-sharing this page is enough.
Announce the winners in the same place people entered, deliver the prizes promptly, and note which prizes drew the most interest for next time.
04Prize wheel or winner draw?
A winner draw puts entrants on the wheel and picks who wins; that is this page. A prize wheel puts prizes on the wheel and every visitor spins once; that is a booth or in-store game. Build a prize wheel on the main wheel spinner, where each prize can carry a weight so the headline prize is rare and the sticker pack is common, and the slice sizes show the odds honestly.
A typical setup: sticker pack weight 10, 10% off weight 6, free drink weight 3, headline prize weight 1, which makes the headline prize a 1-in-20 spin. If you advertise “everyone wins”, make every slice a prize.
05Rules to check before you launch
Write short official rules: who can enter, the entry period, the prizes, and how winners are chosen and contacted. Check whether a purchase is required to enter; in many places requiring payment turns a giveaway into a regulated lottery. Follow the platform’s promotion policies, since Instagram, YouTube and Twitch each have their own. If you are unsure about the law where you operate, ask a legal professional. None of this is legal advice.
06Why a visible draw matters
People trust a draw they watched. The wheel’s result is fixed by a cryptographic random draw before the animation, every entry has the same chance per slice, and the recording is your proof. Why random choices feel fair covers the psychology; is the wheel rigged? covers the maths of streaks.