Competitions and prize draws on WhatsApp

Confirm entries, send tickets, answer questions and tell winners, on the app your entrants already use. And know the South African rules before you start.

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Is a WhatsApp competition legal in South Africa?

In short: a competition that's free to enter, or where people buy something at its normal price, is legal with written rules. If people pay to enter, it's a lottery, which only a registered non-profit can run, with the National Lotteries Commission. And WhatsApp won't let any draw with money in the entry or the prize be promoted on it in South Africa.

A WhatsApp competition is one that uses WhatsApp for the entries, the entry confirmations, the reminders or the winners' messages. The law doesn't care about the channel; it cares about how people enter.

Free to enter, or buy a product at its normal price: legal. It's a promotional competition under section 36 of the Consumer Protection Act, and you follow its rules: written rules, an independent auditor or attorney to oversee the draw, and records kept for three years.
People pay to enter: it's a lottery. Running one without authority is an offence under the Lotteries Act. The only lawful route is a society lottery for a registered non-profit, registered with the National Lotteries Commission before any ticket is sold.
WhatsApp's own rule: Meta treats any draw with money in the entry or the prize as gambling, and won't allow it to be promoted on WhatsApp in South Africa, whatever licence you hold. Free-to-play games and normal-price promotions are fine.

The detail, with sources, is under the rules in South Africa. Here's how it works for a draw that already runs on Sonar.

How Step Up uses WhatsApp

Step Up Competitions runs prize draws for Hout Bay United Football Community, registered with the National Lotteries Commission as a society lottery. Entries are sold on Step Up's own website. Step Up's WhatsApp number runs on Sonar, and handles what happens around each entry:

Tickets on WhatsApp. When an order is paid, Step Up's ticketing system gives every entry its own ticket number and sends the ticket PDF to the entrant on WhatsApp through Sonar's API, as well as by email.
Seller sign-ins. Step Up's sellers sign in to their app with one-time codes sent on WhatsApp.
Questions answered day and night. Step Up's AI Agent answers entrants' and sellers' common questions on WhatsApp, and hands anything about payouts, prizes or refunds to the team.

Around every entry

What you can run on WhatsApp

For free competitions and buy-at-the-normal-price promotions.

Entry confirmations

Confirm each entry from your shop or entry form through Sonar's API, with the entry number. Attach a PDF if you issue tickets.

Opt-ins collected at entry

Add entrants from your website through the API and record whether they agreed to hear from you, so your next competition has an audience that's allowed to hear about it.

Reminders to people who opted in

Tell people who agreed to hear from you when a competition opens or is about to close, and schedule the message ahead.

Winners

Message winners directly, and announce results to entrants where your rules say you will.

One inbox for questions

Entrants' questions arrive in a shared inbox your whole team can answer, and an AI Agent that can answer the common ones, included on Plus and up.

Consent handled

Opt-outs, the one-message rule and a consent record for every contact are built in. See the POPIA guide.

The rules in South Africa

Free competitions and buy-to-enter promotions

A competition run to promote a business is a promotional competition under section 36 of the Consumer Protection Act, whenever the prize is worth more than R1, even with a skill question added. Regulation 11 fills in the detail:

Write the rules before you start, and give them free to anyone who asks.
The offer must say what the prize is, how to enter, how the winner is chosen, the closing date, where results will be published, and where to get the rules and collect prizes.
Entry can't cost more than sending it: at most R1.50 for an electronic entry. "Buy to enter" is fine only at the product's normal price.
Your directors, employees, agents and consultants, and suppliers to the competition, can't take part. Winners declare under oath that they aren't one of them, or their spouse, partner or immediate family.
An independent accountant, auditor, attorney or advocate must oversee and certify the competition.
Keep the records, including the rules, the winners' details and their declarations, for at least three years.
Winners must be able to decline publicity, and nobody can be told they've won when they haven't, or be charged to claim a prize.

Paid entry makes it a lottery

If people pay to enter, beyond the cost of sending the entry, the draw is no longer a promotional competition. Under the Lotteries Act it's a lottery, and running one without authority is an offence. The lawful route is a society lottery: run for a registered non-profit, registered with the National Lotteries Commission before any ticket is sold, and kept within the Commission's limits on ticket sales and prizes. That's the route Step Up takes for Hout Bay United.

Meta's rules for WhatsApp

WhatsApp's Business Messaging Policy treats any game or draw where money is part of the entry or the prize as online gambling, and lists lotteries, raffles and sweepstakes by name. Messaging that promotes online gambling needs Meta's permission, which is only available in a handful of countries, and South Africa isn't one of them, whatever your local licence. Entirely free-to-play games, and prize promotions that only need a purchase at the usual retail price, don't need permission. Entries to a lottery or raffle can't be sold through WhatsApp's own catalogue or payments.

Consent

Entering a competition isn't agreeing to marketing. Ask separately on the entry form, with a box people tick themselves, and only send reminders and new competitions to people who said yes. The POPIA guide has the detail.

What it costs

An entry confirmation is usually a utility message: no Sonar fee within your plan's messages, plus WhatsApp's own rate, about R0.16 in South Africa. A reminder to people who opted in is a marketing message: no Sonar fee within your plan's messages, plus about R0.62. Meta bills its part to your WhatsApp account. Replies to entrants' questions fall within WhatsApp's 1,000 free replies a month per number.

The free trial (50 contacts and 250 messages, with replies you type free) is enough to test with your own team, and the Starter plan (R349 a month, up to 10,000 messages) covers most small competitions. See WhatsApp pricing in South Africa for the full breakdown.

Questions

Can I sell entries on WhatsApp?

Not for a paid draw. Meta's commerce rules don't allow lottery, raffle or sweepstake entries to be sold through WhatsApp, and in South Africa a paid draw has to be a registered society lottery in any case.

Do I need a developer?

For confirmations sent automatically from your shop or entry form, yes, or a tool that can call Sonar's API. Broadcasts, groups, templates and the inbox need no code.

Can I message everyone who has ever entered?

Only the people who agreed to hear from you. Sonar keeps track of who that is, and leaves everyone else out of your broadcasts.

More guides

Sources

Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 (section 36) and its Regulations (Regulation 11)
Lotteries Act 57 of 1997 and the National Lotteries Commission on society lotteries
WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy (sections 4 to 6)

A summary of the rules as they stood on 6 October 2026, not legal advice. Check your competition's rules with a lawyer before you launch.

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