How winners are picked and paid

The draw runs by itself when the deadline passes. Winners are chosen at random from the eligible entries and each one is credited a prize immediately — no claim step, no action from the host.

When the draw happens

At the end time you set. As the host you can also run it early from the manage screen with Draw winners now — useful when the entries are already in and you want to announce the result. Either way the draw happens exactly once.

Who is eligible at draw time

Every entry goes into the pool except:

• accounts under a compliance restriction,
• accounts linked to the host’s own device,
• entrants who have since left a required channel — sampled winners are re-checked against the channel list,
• a second account sharing a device with an entrant already picked. No two winners can come from the same device.

From what’s left, the winners are drawn with a cryptographic random source. Nobody — including the host — can influence or predict the pick.

Getting paid

Each winner is credited exactly one prize, straight into their wallet balance, in the same transaction that closes the giveaway. Winners get a message from the bot; the host gets a summary. If the host enabled Show winners, the list appears on the giveaway screen for everyone.

Prizes are internal balance credits, so they arrive instantly and cost nothing in network fees. From there they behave like any other balance — you can send, swap, or withdraw them.

When a giveaway is cancelled

If the eligible pool is smaller than the number of winners promised, the app cancels the giveaway instead of paying a partial draw. Nobody wins, and the entire hold returns to the host’s balance in one move. The host is notified; participants see Giveaway cancelled on the screen.

This is the only way a giveaway ends without winners, and it’s automatic.

Can a host cancel a giveaway?

No. Once published, a giveaway can’t be cancelled or edited — that’s what makes the promise credible to participants. The manage screen lets you share the link, watch the entry count and draw early, nothing else.

If your entry count is running behind the number of winners, the manage screen warns you: unless it catches up, the giveaway will cancel itself at the deadline and the hold comes back to you in full.