How to verify competition fairness in five minutes.
Instant win positions are generated at random and sealed before sales, so nobody knows which tickets will win them. The grand prize method is sealed too, but its winner can't be known until the competition closes. Here is how to check both for yourself.
What You're Verifying
Nothing Was Changed After Sales Opened
The instant win positions and the grand prize seed revealed after the draw are exactly what was sealed before the first ticket was sold.
The Grand Prize Was Worked Out Fairly
The winner comes from the sealed seed, a public random number published after the last ticket, and the final number of tickets sold, so nobody could know it until the competition closed.
No Prize Was Held Back
Every sealed instant win position is published after the draw, claimed or not, so you can see every advertised prize was genuinely there to be won.
Step-by-Step Verification Process
Follow these simple steps to verify any completed competition
Find a Completed Competition
Go to the Winners page and click "Verify draw" on any winner to open that competition's verification page.
💡 Tip: Look for competitions marked as "Completed" - these have full verification data available.
Check the Verification Status
On a completed competition, look for the green "VERIFICATION PASSED" badge at the top of the verification panel.
Recalculate the Hash Yourself
Under "Recalculate Hash", copy or download the input string, paste it into any SHA-256 calculator, and compare the result with the commitment hash published before sales.
🔍 What this means: If the two match, the revealed instant win positions and grand prize seed are exactly what was sealed before the first ticket was sold.
Check the Grand Prize Sum
If the competition had a grand prize, check these two sections:
The revealed seed hashes to the seed hash sealed before sales
The seed is mixed with the public random number, and the result divided by the valid ticket count leaves a remainder that lands on the winning ticket (older competitions use the seed alone). The summary shows "Seed Verified".
Review Actual Winners
Look at the "Grand Prize Winner", "Instant Winners" and "All Winning Positions" lists to see who won, and which sealed positions were never sold.
🎯 What to look for: Winners should have realistic ticket numbers, proper prize assignments, and appropriate status (Won/Claimed).
What Each Section Means
Original Commitment
This shows the cryptographic "fingerprint" published before the competition started, and the Bitcoin block it was recorded in, so nothing sealed behind it can have changed since.
Revealed Data
This shows everything that was sealed, revealed after the competition ended: every instant win position and its prize, the grand prize seed, and the public random number source the grand prize was committed to.
Recalculate Hash and Verify Seed
These rebuild the fingerprint from the revealed data and compare it with the original, and check the seed against its own published hash. If they match, nothing was changed.
Winner Calculation
This shows the grand prize sum: the seed mixed with a public random number from drand, published after the last ticket, then divided by the number of valid tickets, with the remainder giving the winning draw position. The Public Random Number step links to the round on drand.cloudflare.com. Anyone can redo it.
Red Flags to Watch For
Verification Failed
If you see "VERIFICATION FAILED" instead of "PASSED", this indicates a problem with the competition integrity.
Hash Mismatch
If your own SHA-256 of the input string doesn't equal the published commitment hash, the revealed data isn't what was sealed.
Seed Not Verified
If "Seed Verified" shows a cross, the grand prize winner doesn't follow from the seed that was sealed before sales.
Missing Data
If any section shows "No data available" or error messages, the verification process may be incomplete.
Trust Indicators
Timestamps
Fingerprint recorded in a Bitcoin block before the draw
Cryptographic Proof
SHA256 hash provides mathematical certainty
Public Verification
Anyone can verify independently
Ready to Verify?
Check out our completed competitions and verify their fairness yourself!
View Completed Competitions_upscaled.webp){kind=small}