18+ participation
WinHive accounts and prize draws are restricted to eligible adults aged 18 or over in England, Scotland and Wales. Date of birth is collected at registration and eligibility may be checked again where reasonably required for account, prize or fraud verification.
Spend controls
Every customer has a monthly paid-entry limit which cannot be exceeded. Customers can lower that limit, including to £0, in Account settings.
Take a break or close an account
Customers can pause their account for six months. During a pause WinHive blocks new competition entries and disables marketing. Customers can also request permanent account closure, subject to resolving any outstanding balance, open prize or record-retention requirement.
Debit cards only
WinHive does not accept credit card payments. Hive Credit payment requests are restricted to debit-card funding through Cashflows. This restriction is based on debit/credit funding type, not card brand, so an eligible Mastercard Debit or Visa Debit card can still be used.
Free entry
Paid prize draws provide a free postal entry route. Valid free entries are processed into the same draw and, for Instant Win promotions, receive the same locked Instant Win ticket-position check as paid entries. See Postal entry for the current instructions.
Fairness and Instant Wins
Main draws use auditable draw safeguards described on our Fairness & draw process page. Instant Win positions are generated and locked before entries are issued. WinHive publishes allocation evidence and retains audit records for independent verification.
Harm and unusual activity
WinHive monitors indicators including rapid or unusual spend patterns, repeated reaching of limits, payment failures, frequent changes in payment cards, attempts to bypass controls, multiple account indicators, customer communications and other information that reasonably suggests participation may no longer be controlled. Relevant indicators are surfaced for administrator review. Player protection reviews, the evidence considered and any action taken can be retained as an accountability record. A proportionate response may include contact, support signposting, a £0 spend limit, payment or entry restrictions, a minimum six month pause or account closure.
Independent support
WinHive publishes links to independent organisations that can help with participation related harm, financial difficulty and emotional distress. These include GamCare, National Debtline, Citizens Advice, Mind and Samaritans. If a customer tells WinHive that participation is causing harm, we can help apply protective account controls and direct the customer to appropriate independent support. See Responsible participation for the support information.
Advertising and affiliates
WinHive advertising is intended for adults only and must not present prize draws as a solution to financial difficulty or as an alternative to employment. Approved affiliates are required to disclose their commercial relationship, target adults only and follow WinHive advertising rules.
Accountability and compliance reviews
WinHive maintains a formal compliance review process covering the player protection, transparency and accountability measures relevant to the DCMS Voluntary Code of Good Practice for Prize Draw Operators. A full review is scheduled at least quarterly, with additional reviews considered after material changes to the website, competition or prize allocation mechanics, payment arrangements, free entry route, player protection controls, marketing arrangements or affiliate programme.
Each formal review is retained in a compliance register with the reviewer, review date, next review date, website and database versions reviewed, the status of each Code requirement and supporting evidence. If a weakness or improvement is identified, the required corrective action is recorded and tracked. Resolution details and the date of resolution are retained when the issue has been addressed.
WinHive also reviews third party activity relevant to its prize draw operations. Approved affiliates are subject to published Affiliate Programme Terms and advertising requirements, and WinHive may require non compliant material to be corrected or removed and may suspend or terminate an affiliate relationship where appropriate.
DCMS Voluntary Code
WinHive has implemented these measures with reference to the UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport Voluntary Code of Good Practice for Prize Draw Operators and reviews its ongoing adherence through the compliance process described above. This page does not claim that WinHive is a DCMS signatory. Signatory status should be checked against the official GOV.UK list.
WinHive publishes its relevant operating measures across this page and the linked public policies, including the Fairness and draw process, Postal entry route, Responsible participation, Complaints process, Affiliate Programme Terms and Terms and conditions.
