Omaze Odds: What Are the Chances of Winning an Omaze House?

The adverts are difficult to miss. A spectacular multi-million-pound house, a large cash prize and the promise that one lucky entrant will soon receive the keys.

It naturally raises an important question: what are the actual Omaze odds?

The honest answer is that your precise odds of winning an Omaze house cannot usually be calculated in advance.

This is because the probability depends on the total number of valid entries received for that particular draw — and that figure is not fixed when you enter.

What we do know is that major Omaze draws typically receive millions of entries.

Therefore, although somebody is guaranteed to win, the chances of it being you remain extremely small.

What Are the Odds of Winning Omaze?

According to Omaze, the average customer has approximately a 1 in 1.4 million chance of winning a grand prize each month.

Omaze also states that an average customer may have odds of up to:

• 1 in 40,000 of winning a prize worth more than £10,000 over 12 months;
• 1 in 6 of winning one of its smaller prizes over 12 months.

These figures are based on recent draws and the typical number of entries held by an average customer. They are not guaranteed odds for every person or every competition.

Your personal chance will depend on two main factors:

1. The total number of valid entries in the draw.
2. The number of entries you hold.

As the final number of entries can run into the millions and may not be known until the competition closes, Omaze cannot provide a simple fixed figure such as “your chance is exactly 1 in 5 million”.

How Are Omaze Odds Calculated?

The basic calculation is:

Your number of entries ÷ total number of entries in the draw

For example, imagine an Omaze house draw receives 20 million valid entries.

If you hold one entry, your chance would be:

1 in 20 million

If you hold 100 entries, your chance would be:

100 in 20 million, or 1 in 200,000

If you hold 1,000 entries, your chance would become:

1,000 in 20 million, or 1 in 20,000

These examples are purely illustrative. They do not represent the actual number of entries in a particular Omaze competition.

The key point is that buying more entries does improve your odds proportionally. Holding twice as many entries gives you twice the chance of winning.

However, doubling a very small chance still leaves you with a very small chance. Moving from one chance in two million to two chances in two million is an improvement, but it is still equivalent to odds of approximately one in one million.

Does Buying More Omaze Entries Increase Your Chances?

Yes. Every valid entry has an equal chance of being selected, so possessing more entries increases the number of opportunities you have to win.

Omaze explains that paid entries are assigned an Entry Code and recorded in its draw database. If you purchase 15 entries, for example, that entry is logged 15 times.

The winning entry is then chosen using a software-driven random number generator from the complete pool of eligible entries.

That means somebody with 200 entries has twice the chance of winning as somebody with 100 entries.

It does not mean the person with 200 entries has a good chance of winning in absolute terms.

When millions of entries are competing for one grand prize, even a relatively large bundle may represent only a tiny proportion of the total draw.

This is why it is sensible to set a firm spending limit rather than continually buying additional entries in pursuit of noticeably better odds.

Are Subscription Entries More Likely to Win?

An individual subscription entry does not receive preferential treatment.

Omaze confirms that every single entry has the same chance of winning, regardless of whether it was obtained through:

• A subscription;
• A one-off purchase;
• A promotional entry package;
• The free postal entry route.

A subscriber may nevertheless have a better overall chance than somebody making a small one-off purchase because their subscription could provide them with a greater number of entries.

It is the quantity of entries that changes the probability, not the way those entries were obtained.

Can You Enter Omaze for Free?

Omaze offers a postal entry route, meaning it is possible to enter without buying an online entry package.

To use this method, entrants must follow the postal instructions contained within the rules for the relevant draw.

Generally, this involves sending the required personal information and draw name on a postcard or in a letter.

Only one entry is permitted per mailing envelope or postcard, although entrants can send multiple postal entries provided they follow the rules and do not exceed any applicable entry limit.

Each accepted postal submission is worth one entry and has the same chance of winning as an individual paid entry.

Postal entry is not entirely cost-free, of course, because you will still need to pay for stationery and postage.

It may also be less convenient than entering online, particularly if you want to submit a large number of entries.

Does Someone Definitely Win the Omaze House?

Yes. Omaze says there is a guaranteed winner for each of its house draws, regardless of how many entries are sold.

The prize is not dependent on Omaze reaching a particular ticket-sales target. Once the competition closes, one eligible entry is selected at random and the potential winner is contacted by email and telephone where a number has been supplied.

This does not improve the odds for an individual entrant, but it does mean the advertised house will be awarded rather than the competition being cancelled because of insufficient sales.

Are Omaze Odds Better Than the Lottery?

It is difficult to make a precise comparison because National Lottery jackpot odds are fixed, whereas Omaze odds change according to the number of entries received.

Omaze also sells entry packages containing different numbers of entries, so comparing the cost of a single lottery line with an Omaze purchase can be misleading.

Another difference is that Omaze offers a guaranteed house winner and various secondary prizes.

Your chance of winning something may therefore be considerably higher than your chance of winning the headline property.

However, the life-changing house remains a long shot. Omaze’s own estimate of approximately one chance in 1.4 million for the average customer illustrates just how difficult winning the grand prize is likely to be.

Omaze Odds: Our Verdict

Omaze offers genuine prizes and guarantees that somebody will win each house draw.

Nevertheless, the odds of becoming the grand-prize winner are extremely remote.

Buying more entries increases your chance mathematically, but there is no strategy that can predict or influence the randomly selected result.

You should therefore treat Omaze as an occasional prize draw rather than a way of making money or acquiring a property.

Only spend an amount you are completely comfortable losing. The dream of receiving the keys to a luxury home may be part of the appeal, but the overwhelming likelihood is that your entries will not win the main prize.

In simple terms, somebody will win the Omaze house — but you should never enter on the assumption that it will be you.