Why a live draw video doesn't prove a competition is fair

Most UK prize competitions draw winners live on camera with an online random number generator. It looks transparent. But even when the operator is completely honest, the video proves far less than it appears to.

What you can't see on the video

You can't see whether the wheel was spun off-camera first, until a “good” number came up. You can't see whether the number range matched the tickets actually sold. You can't see the ticket list at all — whether your ticket was in it, whether names were added after entries closed, or whether the winning number was matched to the right person.

The generator isn't the problem

Google's random number generator is genuinely random — that's not the issue. The issue is everything around it that the camera doesn't capture. A live video proves someone pressed a button. It cannot prove the draw was fair.

What proof actually looks like

Real proof doesn't ask you to trust anyone. The ticket list is sealed in public before the draw; the winning number comes from a source nobody controls, created after the list is locked; and the winner is picked by a published sum anyone can redo. That's a certified draw — and it's checkable long after the live stream has ended.