Free Postal Entry Route

In jurisdictions such as the United Kingdom (under the UK Gambling Act 2005) and several European countries, paid prize competitions must provide a genuine free entry route to avoid classification as an illegal lottery. A free alternative entry route—most commonly by post—ensures that the competition remains legally compliant as a commercial prize competition.

Quantum Competitions provides built-in tools to publish postal instructions, display compliant tabs, and register received postal entries into the draw system.

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Enabling the Postal Entry Route Tab

You can publish full instructions directly on individual competition pages:

1. Navigate to Competitions > Settings.
2. Scroll to the Postal Entry Route section.
3. Configure the following fields:
   • Enable Postal Entry Tab: Check this box to display the postal route tab on all competition product pages.
   • Tab Title: Custom tab label (e.g., Postal Entry, Free Entry Method). Default is Postal Entry.
   • Tab Priority: Ordering priority relative to Description and Additional Information tabs (default is 30).
   • Postal Entry Content: Rich text editor where you specify your legal rules, postal address, required postcard format, and arrival deadlines.

Legal Requirements

Consult legal counsel regarding your jurisdiction’s specific wording. Standard UK competition rules typically mandate that postal entries must include:

• Full legal name and contact phone number.
• Registered email address linked to their store account.
• Competition name and answer to the skill-based question.
• Clear arrival deadline (e.g., postmarked and received before the competition closes).

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Frontend Display Options

Besides the standard WooCommerce product tab, you can place free postal entry terms anywhere in your layout:

• Block Editor (Gutenberg): Insert the Competition Free Postal Entry block (qcw/free-postal-entry).
• Elementor: Drag and drop the Competition Free Postal Entry widget from the Quantum Competitions widget category.
• Template Customization: Override templates/single-product/tabs/free-postal-entry.php inside your child theme.

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Registering Postal Entrants in Admin

When physical postcards or letters arrive at your registered address, store administrators can assign tickets to the entrant directly from the competition edit screen:

1. Open the competition in Competitions > All Competitions.
2. Locate the Free Postal Entry metabox.
3. Select User: Search for the customer’s registered WordPress user account by name or email. (If they do not have an account, create a customer profile first).
4. Quantity: Enter the number of free entries being granted (usually 1 per valid postcard received).
5. Click Create Free Entry.

What Happens When You Create a Free Entry?

When you click Create Free Entry:

1. An internal WooCommerce order is automatically generated at zero cost (£0.00) assigned to the selected customer.
2. The plugin allocates valid, unallocated ticket numbers from the available pool.
3. Tickets are permanently logged in the database (wc_lottery_pn_log) with the order reference.
4. Total ticket counts and progress bars update in real time.
5. The entrant sees their allocated ticket number in their My Account > My Tickets dashboard.