How to Set Up a Lottery for Your Race

What is a Lottery?

A lottery is used by race directors when demand is extremely high for their event or a specific distance offered in their event, and there is a limited number of spots available. The director sets an application period where people can apply. Applicants are asked for their card info, but they are not charged. At the end of the application period, the director selects the limited number of participants from the pool of applicants. The method the director uses for the selection period is up to them. Once the list is established, all individuals selected are charged and added into the event.

What is the Lottery Process?

Step 1: Activate the Lottery

Contact USU Support and let them know you would like your event to be set up as a lottery. The team will get the lottery activated for you. You will need to decide how long lottery registration is open, and set your dates on your timeline. Let the UltraSignup team know when you plan to select winners, as they will need to be prepared to process your list.

The registration button for the lottery will appear like this:

The runner will be prompted to add a card to be processed if selected.

We can show or hide your list of lottery applicants. By default, the list will be available.

Applicants will populate in the list every 2 hours:

Once the participant has completed lottery registration, they will receive a confirmation email that looks like the following:

Note that is shows as a pre-order and the card is not charged.

Step 2: Process the Applicants

Once you've made your lottery selection, you will need to send us a spreadsheet of your selected applicants and we will load and charge the participants on our end.

• You will export the applicants from your participant loader.
• Remove the rows for those not selected
• Then delete all columns except for order ID column, and that is what you will send us. Remove the header.
• We will need a separate csv for each distance included in your lottery.
• We do the rest.

Above, is an example of what the spreadsheet should look like.

When processed, your applicants will receive a confirmation email to let them know they are registered:

You can add a special note to your confirmation by navigating to your admin tools. Click event setup edit event email confirmation.

Failed Payments

When payments fail, by default, the runner will receive the following message: "Congratulations, you were selected to participate in 'Event Name'. However, we are having trouble processing your card. Please use the link below to resubmit your payment. Thank you!"

Step 3: Move the Remaining to a Waitlist

Let us know if you would like your remaining applicants loaded into the waitlist. If so, you will need to provide another spreadsheet. This spreadsheet should consist of two columns, no headers, first column is the order id, and the second column is the sort order.

Tips & Other Information

• If you are using the lottery for the first time, you may want to explain the process via your event description. Primarily, to make them aware that when selected, they will be charged and added to the event.
• While processing applicants, if any payments fail, the applicant will receive an email to let them know their payment method failed, and they need to add a new one if they want to keep their spot in the event.
• If a runner needs to update their payment method before the lottery is processed, they can simply navigate to their wallet and remove the incorrect card. When applicants are processed, those without available payment methods will receive an email to add a new card.
• Once applicants have been processed and the remaining have been moved to the waitlist, the RD will manage the event from that point forward by inviting participants once spots are available.