A raffle board and a fair draw that anyone can check
School fairs, church suppers, club nights, the office sweepstake: a raffle is usually a sheet of paper, a pen and a bowl. Rifa keeps the numbers and names on your phone and draws the winner in a way every participant can repeat on their own device — so nobody can say it was rigged.
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The problem
Small raffles go wrong in two boring ways. First the list: a paper sheet gets passed around, two people swear they bought number 17, and nobody remembers who paid. Then the draw: whoever pulls the ticket from the bowl, or taps a “random number” website, is asking everyone to trust them — and in a WhatsApp group of forty parents, someone always asks whether the organiser's cousin winning was really luck. There is also a quieter issue: in many places a raffle where people pay for tickets is regulated. In the UK, for example, the Fundraising Regulator notes that some types of lottery require registration with the local authority or a licence. Rifa does not sell tickets or touch money, but it reminds you to check your local rules before you start.
How Rifa (Fair Raffle Draw) works
- Create a raffle: a name, the prize, how many numbers (50, 100 or any size) and the price as a note. The board appears straight away.
- Tap a number, type the buyer's name and mark it paid. Share the list of numbers still free in your group chat, or print the board and pin it up.
- Before the draw, lock the list. Rifa computes a SHA-256 fingerprint of the raffle name, size, rule and every “number:name”, and makes a card you post in the group. From now on any change to the list changes the fingerprint.
- At the draw, type a seed nobody could know earlier — three words shouted by the audience, a dice roll, or an official lottery result. Rifa combines the fingerprint and the seed and gets the winner. Share the verify link: anyone who opens it gets the same number.
What you get
- A board that replaces the paper sheetEvery number is a big button: empty, sold or paid, each with its own colour. Search by name or number, filter what is still free, and use “save & next free number” when one person buys several.
- Lock the list, then drawThe fingerprint is a public commitment. Once it is posted, the organiser cannot quietly swap a name or add a friend without every checker seeing “does not match”. This is the same commit-then-reveal idea used for verifiable draws everywhere.
- A verify page for everyone, freePaste the verify code or open the link and Rifa recomputes the fingerprint and the winner on that device. It says plainly whether the list matches the one locked before the draw, whether it matches the fingerprint you were shown, and whether the winner is right.
- Draw by lottery resultPrefer an outside source? Type an official lottery result and Rifa takes its last digits (100 numbers → last two digits, “00” counts as 100). If that number is out of range or unsold, the next prize is used. The rule is printed on screen before you draw.
- Print, share, remindPrint the board on A4 with names and paid ticks, share the free numbers as text, save a result card image, and add the draw date to your calendar with a reminder the day before.
Private by design
Rifa has no account and no server. The list of names lives only in your browser on your phone, and the draw is computed on the device with the browser's built-in SHA-256. Nothing is uploaded — the only network request is a one-time check if you unlock Pro. The verify code does contain the names on the list, so share it only with the people taking part. Rifa never sells tickets, never takes or holds money and never delivers prizes; the price is a note for you. It is made for small community raffles, not for commercial lotteries or gambling, and organising the raffle within the rules where you live is your responsibility.
Free vs Pro
FAQ
How can people be sure the draw was not rigged?
Post the list fingerprint before the draw, and use a seed nobody could know when the list was locked, such as words chosen by the audience. Afterwards share the verify link: anyone can recompute the fingerprint and the winner on their own phone. If a single name was changed after locking, the check says “does not match”.
What does the fingerprint not prove?
It proves the list was not changed after it was locked and that the winner follows from the list and the seed. It cannot prove the organiser was honest before locking — for example that every buyer was written down — and the draw is only as fair as the seed. That is why the seed should come from the audience or an official result.
Do I need a licence to run a raffle?
It depends on where you live and on whether people pay for tickets. Many countries regulate paid raffles; in the UK, for example, some lotteries need registration with the local authority. Rifa is a record-keeping and drawing tool, not legal advice — check your local rules.
Can only sold numbers win?
You choose: only sold numbers, or every number on the board (if an unsold number comes up, there is no winner). The choice is fixed when you lock the list, so it cannot be changed after seeing the result.
What is free and what is Pro?
Free: one raffle of up to 100 numbers, the board, printing (with a small watermark), sharing and the seed draw — and checking a draw is always free for everyone. Pro is $1 once: unlimited raffles up to 10,000 numbers, locking the list with a fingerprint, verify links, drawing by lottery result and printing without the watermark.