How to run a sweepstake on SweepSquad: the quick-start guide
4 min read
Most sweepstakes take about ten minutes to set up. Here's the whole journey, with a link to the fuller guide at each stage if you want the detail.
1. Create a competition
From Competitions, press New competition. You've got three ways in:
- Featured events — things we've already set up, like Strictly Come Dancing or a big football tournament. Pick one and the name, format and competitors are sorted for you.
- Find by sport — search for a real league or tournament. Football and tennis come with live results; other sports you score by hand.
- Something else — anything we don't list, from a darts night to the office bake-off.
Set an Entry fee (£) if people are paying in (leave it at 0 if not), then press Create competition. More on setting up.
2. Check your competitors
Open the competition and go to the competitors tab — it'll be called Teams, Players or Horses depending on the sport. Featured events and linked tournaments fill this in for you. Otherwise use Add, Paste field or Generate with AI (the buttons use your competitor word, such as Add Team). Give them seeds if you can, because that's what makes the draw fair. Adding competitors.
3. Add your members
On the Members tab, use Add member, Bulk add (paste a list) or From roster (people you've added before). Or turn on sharing and send people a join link so they add themselves. You need at least as many competitors as members. Adding members.
4. Run the draw
On the Draw tab you can press Allocate (it'll say Allocate Teams, Allocate Players and so on) for an instant draw, or schedule it for a set time so everyone watches the reveal together. Scheduling sends each member an invitation automatically and emails their competitors once the draw finishes. How the draw works.
5. Share it and follow along
Open the Share tab and switch on Live page link and send the link round on Slack, Teams or WhatsApp. Everyone can see who has what, the leaderboard and the results. Football and tennis update themselves; for everything else you enter results on the Results tab as the event goes on. Results and points.
Stuck on a word?
The glossary explains everything — competitors, members, pots, seeds, allocations and the rest.
Common questions
Related guides
SweepSquad glossary: competitors, members, pots and the draw explained
Every term you'll see in SweepSquad, explained in a sentence or two.
Setting up a sweepstake: featured events, sports and your own
The three ways to create a competition, which format to pick, and what the entry fee setting does.
How the sweepstake draw works: pots, seeds and the live reveal
What makes the draw fair, instant versus scheduled draws, and how to put on a live reveal.
Adding members to your sweepstake: lists, roster and join links
Four ways to get people in, how the member limit works, and what happens if someone joins after the draw.
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