2012 Stats Review: What Were the Best Games for Winning Prizes in 2012?

2012 has come and gone and we are all looking forward to a great 2013.  Here at Win.ly, our job is to identify the prize games on the internet that have the best chance of winning. As part of this, we like to look back at the year and see what were the best and worst of the year in a number of categories.

So without further ado...

By the odds

The highest Winly Rank (WR) of the year was the "The Long John Silver's Batter, Boots, Banjos Sweepstakes" that ran from the end of May through mid October.  With 567,192 prizes worth over $825,000, there were a lot of prizes to win so it's no wonder this ranked so high.  The Win.ly community, though, disliked this promotion by a ratio of 4 to 1.  Doubtless this was because there was a purchase component that forced people who didn't purchase to mail in for free codes. 

Clearly people did not want to take the time to do this because there were no reported wins on this game.

Winning on Win.ly

The promotion that had the most reported wins from Win.ly players was the "Oh Boy! Oberto Grab-bag Instant Win".  Eleven different Win.ly members reported winning from this promotion.

This was followed closely by the "Hershey's Avengers Instant-win Game" with nine.

Both of these were among the highest Win.ly Ranks (WR) of the year so all is working as planned.

Dollar Weighted

The highest dollar weighted Win.ly Rank was  "The Pepsi Super Bowl XLVI Game" on January 6.  Traffic was still low on this date and with over $380,000 in prizes that was a great day to play.  

Only one Win.ly member reported getting a win on this promotion.  

For those who don't know, Win.ly's Dollar Weighting feature gives a stronger weighting to prizes of more value.  This helps screen out games that have a lot of small dollar prizes and points you towards bigger prizes that also have good chances of winning.

Most Popular

The most popular game this year with Win.ly members was "More Ole in Life".

The least liked of all was "3M Your Ticket to the Track Instant Win Sweepstakes".  (Which was a bit surprising, as four Win.ly members won playing this game).

Crystal Ball

What will 2013 bring?  We're excited to see.  But with over 47,000 game plays tracked (wow!) and

157 prize wins by Win.ly members in 2012 we expect really good things.

Let us know how you're doing with your prize wins.  We love to hear from you.

For anyone interested in learning more, register for a membership and give it a try.  We think you'll like it so much that you'll join Premium and start enjoying the fun and excitement of winning prizes more often.

Why should I care about Daily Entry vs. Single Entry Sweepstakes?

Although there can be every combination of intricate entry rules on any given sweepstakes, the vast majority are either single entry or daily entry.  Many people wonder why we bother categorizing them this way  and ask if there is any reason to care.  Well there are advantages and disadvantages to each, and if you understand these differences it will give you yet another edge to win more prizes.

As the names imply, Daily Entry Sweepstakes let you play once each day and Single Entry Sweepstakes only let you enter once over the entire sweepstakes.

Daily Entry Sweepstakes

Advantages:  If you get started early and are diligent to play every day, you can have a significant edge over many of the other players.  For example, if the sweepstakes runs 30 days and you play every single day, you will end up with 30 entries.  Someone else might be lazy and only play it once, or find out about it late and only get a few entries in.  Now you have a way better chance of winning than those people.

Disadvantages:  If you find a daily entry sweepstakes late, or you don't have the time to be entering every day, you will have a much lower chance of winning.

Hint:  Win.ly's Tracking and Liking features let you easily keep track of the daily entry sweepstakes that you want to concentrate on.  Make sure you are logged in and then "Like" the daily sweepstakes you want to play every day.  Then when you return to Win.ly each day, just click on the "All my likes" link in the My Likes section of the home page.  (Or if you are on Win.ly Premium, just select "Only my likes" from the Likes pull down filter at the top.)  You'll see the sweepstakes you are tracking along with the last time you visited.  This is a handy reminder to help you play each day.  It also tracks how many times you've visited as a reminder to how many entries you are piling up.

Single Entry Sweepstakes

Advantages:  The advantages of single entry are the exact opposite of daily entry.  You can find a sweepstakes you are interested in on the very last day and still have as good a chance of winning as anyone else.

Disadvantages  The disadvantage is that even if you find one early, there's no protection against late comers.  Where as with a single entry you can start amassing entries, here you just get your one.  There's nothing to protect you against a big wave of entrants on the last few days that water down your chances to win.

Furthermore, it is rare but not entirely uncommon that a game will let you fill out the registration over and over even though you only ever get one entry.  This is another reason that seeing the "Single Entry" designation on the Win.ly screen is helpful, it can save you from lots of wasted time on sweepstakes like these.

Different Strategies for Different Games

So hopefully you see how knowing these little strategies can help you win more.  Of course the best way is to know which games have the best odds with Win.ly Premium, but these other strategies also help a lot.

Good luck and keep clicking those "I won" buttons!

How do you like our latest creative refresh?

We spruced things up a little bit.  First we changed the overall theme to more of a textured feel, away from the glossy look.  We also added the ability to like and dislike right from the list instead of having to click to visit the promotion.

Click here to take a look.  Let us know what you think!

New Feature: Submit Your Own Sweepstakes or Contest

Do you know of a Sweepstakes, Contest or other prize game that isn't listed on Win.ly and you're curious to know how it would rate?

Are you running your own game and want to get more exposure?

Submit to Win.ly

We've gotten a lot of emails and Contact form submissions over the years with suggestions for new listings, and we really appreciate all the help.  So we decided to make it easier for you.  Now, if you scroll to the links on the footer there is a link called "Submit New Game".

All we really need is the URL to the game and we can grab the rest, but if you do have any additional info you want us to know, feel free to add it to the notes/comments section.  All submissions are hand-reviewed by a real person so feel free to be as descriptive as you wish.

Receive top priority attention

And our promise to you, since you are taking the time to help us out, is that we will review your submission as a top priority.  If your submission meets our guidelines, it will usually be added within a day or two.

Thanks to all who have taken the time to provide us suggestions over the years.  The participation of the Win.ly community has been one of the things that has made it great.  

So go out and win some more prizes!

Top Six Myths about Online Sweepstakes

1. You're just asking for an inbox full of spam

This may be true if you're clicking on any flashy popup ad that you come across.  But if you rely on a reputable prize games directory like Win.ly, then you'll only be playing legitimate prize games.

These games are run by brands who care about their reputation and who follow national laws such as "CAN SPAM" that prevent them from emailing you unless you check the box giving them permission.  Even if you do give them permission, you will have a chance to revoke that permission in every email you receive.  (Look for the "unsubscribe" link, usually at the bottom of the email).


2. No one really wins

Legitimate prize games post official rules and in many cases file these rules with certain states and post bonds against the prizes, etc.  And they all contain a section in the rules to find out who the real winners were after the game is over.


3. You'd have a better chance winning the lottery

For some that's true.  For others, you'd be surprised how good your chances are of winning a prize.  That's the whole foundation for Win.ly -- knowing one from the other makes all the difference.

4. Automated submission services are the way to go

It's possible you might snag a win or two but these services are not only expensive, they also break the rules of nearly every promotion.  Don't waste your time, you could quite likely actually win, then be disqualified without ever knowing it.  Don't waste those wins, register legitimately to make sure you don't get disqualified.

Besides, modern browsers like Chrome come with auto-complete functionality that makes it very quick to enter and still be be very safely within the rules.

5. You can't trust the companies running these games

Again, if you are using a reputable games directory like Win.ly, you are only playing legitimate prize games.  The sponsors are spending a lot of money to try to provide you with a good experience with their brand.  And the administrators live and die by running smooth promotions.  They both have a lot on the line.

6. You have pretty much the same chance of winning on one as the other

You might be surprised at the difference in odds.  There are games out there with such a small chance of winning that you are literally wasting your time by playing them.  And there are often games out there that if you play every day for a month you are almost guaranteed a prize.

This is why Win.ly is so useful.  Free members get sneak peaks into the odds every day.  If you've opted for our email updates, you'll get the Number 2 and Number 3 best odds games delivered to your inbox each Monday morning.

And of course premium members get access to all the rankings all the time, including a nicely sortable list of the games with the best odds.

One thing never changes--you have to play to win.  Go to Win.ly right now and get in the running for cool prizes.  Good luck!

I Just Won a Prize! Now What?

First of all--congratulations!  It's always fun and exciting to win prizes online.  If you're using Win.ly, get used to it as you should be winning a prize or two every month if you keep up with it.

If you've won something relatively small (under $600), things are pretty simple.   You may receive an email or a phone call asking you to provide or confirm your home address.  Or it may just arrive at your door if you've already provided your address during registration

Hint:  Be sure to mark your wins on the Win.ly toolbar so you can track them and make sure they show up.


Considerations for Bigger Prizes - Do I Even Want the Prize?

If you've won something bigger you'll need to first think if you really want the prize enough to pay the taxes on it.

You'll be asked to sign an affidavit and the sweepstakes administrator will file paperwork with the IRS along with the value ("ARV") of the prize or prizes you've won.  This means you'll owe taxes on this as if it were extra income you've earned.  (When tax time rolls around you'll receive a 1099 form).

Only you know what tax bracket you're in, so consider taking that percentage of the ARV and knowing you'll need to pay that to get the prize.  Is the prize still worth it?

And also take into consideration that big prizes, like cars or extravagant trips, can push you up into a higher tax bracket.

So the 21 day trip around the world seems cool, but is it worth paying $7,000 in taxes for?  That's up to you.

Some Other Things to Consider

For cash prizes you should obviously always take the prize.  You can pay the taxes out of it and keep the rest.  No decision there.

For prizes with a good resale value you should also consider taking the prize.  For instance, a car or truck.  You might owe $10,000 taxes on a $40,000 car, but you could most likely (depending on the specifics of the vehicle) sell the car for more than $10,000 and keep the difference.  Of course, as long as you're willing to put up with the hassle of the whole process.

What if my Prize Never Shows Up?

This does happen sometimes.  Sweepstakes administrators make mistakes just like everyone else.  This is why it's important to track your wins so you can follow up if they don't arrive.

If you're looking at your list of wins in Win.ly and see a prize that never showed up, you'll need to find a person to contact.  The better sweepstakes administrators will still have a page up that says the game is over, along with a link for someone to contact for support.

If there is no support link, and the rules are still available, try looking towards the end of the rules. There generally should be three sections there.

• Sweepstakes Administrator:  This is the company hired to run the promotion.  Google them to find their phone number and call to ask them about your prize.  Since they are being paid to run a smooth promotion, they are usually very helpful.  Most of the time the issue is something as simple as a delay in receiving the prizes in order to ship and they can get things straightened out quickly.
• Sponsor:  Every set of rules should list a sponsor and this is where you should go if you can't determine an administrator.  The sponsor is the company who actually decided to run the promotion and is generally paying for it.  Sometimes they can be a little more difficult to navigate than the Administrator, since they are often much larger corporations, but if you are persistent enough to get to the right people you can usually get helpful responses here.
• Winner's List:  Any well run sweepstakes will supply an address to write to for a winner's list after the sweepstakes is over.  If it's a different address than what' you've tried and you are still not getting anywhere, it's at least worth a shot.

Winning is Still Fun...Right?

These are suggestions to help with rare situations.  It's important to keep in mind that these circumstances are rare and the majority of the time your prizes arrive easily (although not always so quickly).  Be patient for at least eight to twelve weeks after you've won before pursuing a follow-up call.  If you're really antsy, check the rules -- they should specify the amount of time you need to wait for your prize to arrive.

Any Good Stories?

If you have a story about winning a prize, please post it to the comments.  Your experience could be very helpful to other players.

You Still Have to Play to Win

All this talk of prizes should have you chomping at the bit to go out and try a few.  Go to Win.ly now and start playing.  The prizes will come as long as you keep playing.

Good luck!

Updated site design

So we rolled out an updated design last night.  We moved a bit away from the open and white look to have a little more structure and definition.

But it's not just a a visual improvement, we've also optimized many areas so you should see faster page loads and a generally quicker feeling experience.

These changes are hard, because there are always a group who've grown to like the old look, but we're confident they will grow to like the new one also.

Let us know what you think?  As all those who have provided feedback in the past know well, we listen and respond.  If you have a good suggestion you just might see it on the site a week or two later.