Is BOTB Legit? BOTB Review 2026: Odds, Winners & Is It Worth It

Short answer: yes, BOTB is legit. Best of the Best has been running car competitions in the UK since 1999, publishes its winners every week, and pays out real cars and real cash. What it is not is a normal raffle — and that difference decides whether it's worth your money.

This review covers how BOTB actually works, what your odds really are, what people mean when they call it rigged, and when a ticket-based competition site is the better bet.

Is BOTB legit?

Yes. BOTB is one of the oldest names in UK prize competitions — it started in 1999 with prize cars displayed in airports and shopping centres before moving online. It is a UK-registered company, prizes are delivered (or paid as a cash alternative), and winners are named and filmed on BOTB's own site every week.

When people search "is BOTB a scam", they are usually reacting to something else: that they entered many times and never won. That is not evidence of a scam — it is how the format works. Most weekly entrants in any competition do not win. The question worth asking is whether the format gives you a fair chance for what you pay, which is what the rest of this review is about.

How Spot the Ball works

BOTB's main car competitions use a Spot the Ball format. You are shown a photograph of a football match with the ball removed and place a crosshair where you think the centre of the ball is. A judging panel decides the ball's position, and the entry closest to that position wins.

Because it is a game of judgement rather than chance, there is no fixed ticket cap and no published "1 in X" odds on these draws. Buying more entries still helps — more crosshairs means more chances to be closest — but so does placing them well. BOTB offers a free practice mode, and it's worth using before you pay for anything.

What are the odds of winning on BOTB?

It depends which kind of BOTB draw you enter:

• Spot the Ball (the headline cars): no fixed odds can be calculated. Your chance depends on how many entries are placed that week and how accurately you judge the ball.
• BOTB's fixed-odds draws (the cheap cash, tech and "house tickets" draws): these do have a ticket cap, so your odds are simply tickets bought divided by tickets available. Some run to hundreds of thousands of 1p or 2p entries — cheap to enter, long odds per entry.

For the fixed-odds draws, our Value Ratio applies exactly as it does anywhere else: total ticket revenue divided by the prize's cash value, where 1.0 is break-even and lower is better. We track every live BOTB draw and show the live figures below and on our BOTB competitions page.

Do people actually win on BOTB?

Yes — every week. Each Spot the Ball competition produces a winner, and BOTB publishes them. What you won't find is a way to make winning likely: with a very large weekly entry pool, any single crosshair is a small chance. Treat BOTB as low-cost entertainment with a real prize at the end, not as a plan.

What BOTB costs

Entries run from a few pence on smaller prizes and used sports cars up to several pounds for new supercars. BOTB also sells the BOTB Pass, a monthly subscription that gives access to subscriber-only competitions. Every car competition lists a cash alternative, so you always know the prize's monetary value.

Is BOTB gambling?

Spot the Ball is a competition of skill and judgement, which is why it runs as a prize competition rather than under the lottery rules — the same reason raffle-style sites ask you a question before you enter. That doesn't make it risk-free: it is still money spent on an uncertain result, so set a budget and stick to it. If it stops being fun, BeGambleAware and GAMSTOP can help.

Verdict: is BOTB worth it in 2026?

BOTB is legitimate and long-established. It is worth it if you enjoy Spot the Ball and want the cheapest possible entry into a draw for a genuinely valuable car. It is not the place to go if you want to know your odds in advance — for that, a ticket-based site where the maths is on the page is the better fit.

The best BOTB alternatives

If you would rather rely on fixed odds than judgement, several UK operators run ticket-based draws where your chance is simply tickets bought divided by tickets sold. We keep a ranked list in our guide to the best BOTB alternatives in the UK, and BOTB vs Elite Competitions compares the closest like-for-like supercar operator. Our live car competitions league table ranks every raffle-style car draw in the UK by Value Ratio, and the odds calculator works out your exact chance in any fixed-odds draw.

BOTB FAQ

Is BOTB a scam?

No. BOTB has operated since 1999, delivers its prizes and publishes its winners. Not winning after many entries is expected in any large competition and isn't a sign of a scam.

Is BOTB rigged?

There is no evidence it is. Spot the Ball winners are decided by a judging panel against the ball's judged position, and the closest entry wins. What makes it feel unwinnable is the size of the entry pool, not the judging.

What are the odds of winning a car on BOTB?

For Spot the Ball there are no fixed odds — it depends on the number of entries and your accuracy. For BOTB's fixed-odds draws, your odds are your tickets divided by the ticket cap, shown on each draw.

Can you take cash instead of the car?

Yes. BOTB lists a cash alternative on its car competitions.

Track every live BOTB draw on our operator page, updated through the day.