Terms and conditions

These terms are between you and the operator of The Pools Prizes. They apply every time you enter a competition on this site, whether you pay or enter free by post.

By entering you accept these terms. If you do not accept them, do not enter.

You must be 18 or over and resident in the United Kingdom.

You may hold one account only. Entries from duplicate accounts are void and any prize won through one will not be paid.

Employees of the operator, their immediate families, and anyone professionally connected with a competition may not enter it.

We may ask you to prove your age and identity before paying a prize. If you cannot, the prize is forfeited and the entry refunded.

Every competition can be entered free by post, and a postal entry has exactly the same chance of winning as a paid one. No purchase is necessary and paying does not improve your chance.

The full postal route, including the address and what to write, is on the free entry page. Postal entries must ARRIVE before the closing date, not merely be postmarked before it.

An entry is complete when we issue your ticket number, and at that point it cannot be cancelled, exchanged or refunded. This is because the outcome may be determined immediately.

You are agreeing to immediate performance and, in doing so, you acknowledge that you lose the 14-day right to cancel that would otherwise apply to a distance contract.

Prices are shown in pounds sterling and include any applicable tax. We take payment when you enter.

If we take payment and cannot issue the ticket, we refund that payment in full to the original method.

Each competition states, on its own page and before you enter, how its winner is decided, when it closes and when it is drawn. Those statements form part of these terms.

Skill competitions are decided by an independent panel after entries close. The panel's decision is final, and the judges' names are available on request.

Instant win prizes are allocated to specific ticket numbers before the competition opens. Which ticket holds which prize is fixed before any ticket is sold and is not affected by how you play any game on this site.

Where a competition carries a leaderboard, the leaderboard prize is separate from any instant win and is decided by score when the competition closes.

Closing dates are fixed once published and are not extended.

Every prize is funded before its competition opens. No prize depends on a minimum number of entries being sold.

Prizes are as described on the competition page. Where a cash alternative is offered it is stated there; where none is stated, none is available.

Prizes are not transferable.

We contact winners using the details on the account within seven days of the draw. If we cannot reach a winner within 28 days of the first attempt, we may redraw.

Site credit won as a prize can be used to enter further competitions. Whether it can be withdrawn as cash is stated at the point it is awarded.

Keep your password to yourself. You are responsible for entries made from your account.

Tell us immediately if you think someone else has used it.

You can close your account at any time by writing to us. Closing it does not cancel entries already made or prizes already won.

We may suspend or close an account where we reasonably believe these terms have been broken, where entries have been made fraudulently, or where we are required to.

If a competition is affected by an error, a technical fault or anything outside our reasonable control, we may cancel or suspend it. If we do, every paid entry into it is refunded in full.

Where an entry is accepted in error, or a prize is displayed in error, the entry is void and refunded. A prize shown by mistake does not create an entitlement to it.

We are not liable for losses that were not reasonably foreseeable, and nothing in these terms limits our liability for death, personal injury or fraud.

If you are unhappy, tell us. Our complaints procedure, including how long we take to respond and what to do if you are still unhappy afterwards, is on the complaints page.

We use your information to run the competitions, pay prizes, and meet our legal obligations. What we collect, why, and how long we keep it is set out in the privacy notice.

Entering competitions should be entertainment you can afford. If it stops being that, the responsible play page lists free and confidential help that has nothing to do with us.

We may change these terms. Changes apply to entries made after they are published, never retrospectively to entries already made.

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction.