Is Omaze Legit? An Honest 2026 Review of the UK House Draw
Reviewed by the PrizeDrawsDaily team · Updated June 2026
Yes — Omaze is a legitimate, UK-registered company that runs real prize draws with real, verified winners, and you can enter every draw for free by post. The honest catch isn't that it's a scam — it's that Omaze is a for-profit business, so only a minority of your ticket money reaches the charity, and the odds of actually winning a house are very long. Here's exactly how it works, where your money goes, and how to decide if it's worth a punt.
Is Omaze a real company, or a scam?
Omaze is real and properly registered. The UK arm is Omaze UK Limited, an England-and-Wales company (company number 12056935) based in Altrincham, Cheshire. The wider business was founded in the United States in 2012 and shifted its focus to UK house draws in 2020.
It doesn't hold a gambling licence, and it doesn't need one. Omaze runs its competitions as "free draws" under the Gambling Act 2005 — the same legal route we explain in are prize draws legal in the UK? — which is why every draw must offer a genuine free entry option. So while plenty of pay-to-enter sites are dodgy, Omaze is not one to worry about on the basic question of "will this take my money and vanish."
Are Omaze winners real?
Yes. Omaze publishes its winning entry codes after each draw, and several winners have been named and interviewed in the national press. By 2024 the company had confirmed more than twenty grand-prize house winners. Real examples include Kevin Johnson, who won a roughly £3 million London townhouse and kept it, alongside others who chose to sell — such as Marilyn Pratt's Fulham home and June Smith's multi-million-pound property.
That points to something worth knowing before you dream too hard: most house winners sell up rather than move in. Of the early winners, roughly two in three took the money. A multi-million-pound home comes with multi-thousand-pound running costs, which is why Omaze now hands winners a chunk of cash (often somewhere between £50,000 and £250,000 depending on the draw) alongside the keys.
Can you really enter Omaze for free?
Yes, and it isn't a trick. By law, because Omaze runs free draws, a free postal entry must have exactly the same chance of winning as a paid one. You write your details on a postcard and send it to the address in that draw's terms — one entry per postcard. We walk through the exact wording and the mistakes that get entries binned in free postal entry explained.
The only real "cost" of the free route is a stamp. If you plan to send lots of entries, posting them can work out dearer than buying a bundle online — so the free route is best if you want a flutter without spending, not if you want hundreds of entries.
Where does your money actually go?
This is the part most "is Omaze legit" articles skate over, and it's the bit that matters most. Omaze is a for-profit company, not a charity. As a rough rule of thumb, ticket revenue splits into three parts: around a third to charity and VAT, around a third to buying the prize, and around a third to Omaze's marketing, running costs and profit.
In practice the charity's guaranteed slice is about 17% of ticket sales, with a floor of at least £1 million per house draw even if a draw sells poorly. Omaze says it has raised more than £100 million for UK charities to date, partnering with names like the British Heart Foundation, Marie Curie and Alzheimer's Research UK. That's a genuinely large sum — but be clear-eyed that for every £10 you spend, only around £1.70 reaches the cause. If supporting the charity is your main goal, donating to it directly gives it far more of your money.
What are your odds of winning?
Long. Exact odds vary by draw and aren't always published, but independent estimates put a single £10 (15-entry) bundle somewhere around 1 in 2 million or worse for the big house draws. For comparison, that's better than a National Lottery jackpot but still firmly in "don't plan your life around it" territory.
The sensible way to think about Omaze: it's a charity flutter with a small chance of a life-changing prize, not an investment or a realistic property plan.
So, should you enter Omaze?
Enter if you'd enjoy the punt, you're comfortable that most of your money isn't going to the charity, and it's money you can afford to lose. Use the free postal route if you want in without paying. Don't enter expecting to win, and don't treat it as an efficient way to give to charity — it isn't.
If you want to see how Omaze stacks up against the dozens of other UK operators on price, odds and transparency, we score them all in our operator reviews, and you can browse the current house draws in one place.
FAQs
Is Omaze a scam? No. Omaze is a registered UK company (Omaze UK Limited, company number 12056935) with verified, named winners and a legally required free entry route. The fair criticisms are about value, not legitimacy: it's a for-profit business, only around 17% of ticket sales reach the charity, and the odds are very long.
Is Omaze legit and regulated? Omaze is legitimate. It doesn't hold a gambling licence because it runs "free draws" under the Gambling Act 2005, which is legal as long as a free entry route is offered — and it always is.
Do you pay tax if you win Omaze? No. Omaze prizes are tax-free in the UK — you won't pay income tax, capital gains tax or stamp duty on the prize itself, and Omaze covers those costs.
How do I know if I've won Omaze? Omaze contacts winners directly by phone and email, and also publishes the winning entry code on its website after each draw so you can check it against your own codes.
Which other competition sites are legit? Several UK operators are well run and transparent. We check each one for free entry routes, real winners and proper company details in our operator reviews, and round up the strongest in the best prize draw sites in the UK.
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