BOTB
27 June 2026
Anyone who has passed through a UK airport over the last couple of decades may have seen BOTB without knowing its name: a supercar on display and a sports image asking players to judge where the missing ball should be. That familiar setup belongs to Best of the Best, one of the UK’s longest-running competition platforms, operating since 1999.
BOTB offers competitions for cars, cash, watches, holidays, technology and property. Its best-known format is Spot the Ball, where entrants place a marker on a sports image after the ball has been digitally removed.
A panel of independent judges examines the same image and agrees on the winning coordinate. The closest entry wins. It does not necessarily make winning easy, but the skill element makes the experience more involving than simply choosing a raffle number.
BOTB runs three main types of competition.
The Dream Car competition features high-end vehicles from brands such as Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Range Rover and Mercedes-AMG. Winners are usually offered a cash alternative if they would prefer the money.
The Midweek Car competition uses the same Spot the Ball format but generally features more accessible prizes, including Teslas, hot hatches and premium SUVs.
Weekly Lifestyle competitions replace Spot the Ball with a qualifying question. Correct answers enter a draw for prizes such as watches, holidays, motorbikes, cash and technology.
Entry prices can be low, while subscription-style passes bundle together weekly entries and may offer better value for regular players. However, the rules covering cancellations and game-credit expiry should be read carefully before signing up.
BOTB is among the most established and transparent names in the UK competition market. Its long operating history, public company status, independent judging, external auditing and searchable archive of previous winners provide a level of reassurance that many newer platforms cannot match.
Winner videos, prize details and judging results are publicly available, and competitions are independently verified. None of this improves an individual entrant’s odds, but it makes BOTB’s legitimacy fairly straightforward to assess.
Feedback is broadly positive. Customers regularly mention the easy-to-use platform, enjoyable competitions and quick payment of smaller cash prizes. BOTB also makes a real event of winning, contacting major winners by phone and recording their reactions.
Some players say they continue to enjoy entering despite never winning a major prize, suggesting the experience itself has appeal beyond the result.
The most common complaints involve game-credit expiry, subscription cancellation and a Spot the Ball interface that could feel smoother. Complaints about spending without winning also appear, although that is an unavoidable part of entering any competition.
Some entrants question the judging process because Spot the Ball can feel subjective, particularly when their marker appears close to the winning position. However, the judging is recorded, audited and published, so the method remains visible even when players disagree with the outcome.
Credibility is BOTB’s biggest strength. Previous winners can be searched, judging results are published and external verification is used. That level of openness matters in an industry where trust can be difficult to establish.
The Spot the Ball format also makes entering more interactive. Studying players’ positions, movement and eyelines gives entrants something to consider, even if the final decision still involves plenty of uncertainty.
Ticket prices are accessible, often costing less than a coffee despite prizes sometimes being worth hundreds of thousands of pounds. BOTB also takes the winner experience seriously, from the initial phone call to the recorded moment the news sinks in.
The prizes are large because the odds of winning are difficult. Low ticket prices can make it easy to spend more than intended without noticing, so it is sensible to set a fixed budget before entering.
Subscription and game-credit terms also deserve attention. Several critical reviews come from customers who did not fully understand how these worked until they encountered a problem.
BOTB operates as a skill competition rather than a lottery, placing it outside the Gambling Commission’s regulatory framework. That is a legal distinction rather than a warning sign, but entrants should understand it.
BOTB is best suited to car enthusiasts and regular competition players who want something more interactive than a standard prize draw. It works particularly well for those who enjoy studying the images, following previous winners and having a small weekly flutter within a set budget.
It should never be treated as a financial strategy. The happiest regular players appear to be those who enjoy taking part without expecting to win.
BOTB is one of the UK’s most established and credible competition platforms. Its history since 1999, public company status, independent verification, published judging results and extensive winner archive place it ahead of much of the online competition market.
The prizes are genuinely exciting, Spot the Ball adds some welcome interaction and entry prices are accessible. The main cautions are the difficult odds and the need to understand subscription and game-credit rules.
Treat BOTB as entertainment, decide your budget in advance and enter for the enjoyment rather than the expectation of winning. On that basis, it is easy to recommend.
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