Each Property Lottery is managed separately. There are 2 ways you can access a Property Lottery:
- Via the Property
- Open the Property in your Properties view or by searching for it.
- Click on the link next to Go to Property Candidate Pool
- Via the Lottery Screening Campaign Candidate Pool
- Open the Campaign in your Campaign view or by searching for it.
- Click on the link next to Go to Property Candidate Pool
- In the Candidate Pool, click on the Property you want to run
Rank the Lottery
Ranking the lottery generates the official entry records for this property. For weighted lotteries, multiple entries are created according to configured weights.
The process emulates a physical lottery. Entries are placed in a pool, randomized, and drawn one at a time. Each draw the next rank is assigned the next rank. The pool is re-randomized between each draw. In weighted lotteries, households may receive multiple entries, with their best-ranked entry determining their final position.
This approach is a natural transition from any physical lotteries an organization may have already been running, easy to explain to participants and document in Policy guides and easy to verify by sequential timestamps.
Randomization uses the Fisher-Yates algorithm.
Click the Rank Lottery button and confirm:
- The lottery submission window remained open for a reasonable and accessible period.
- Households with unverified email addresses received at least two notifications prompting them to verify.
- All weighting criteria were configured according to documented policies and reviewed for accuracy.
- Any manually updated Screening Submission records follow applicable fair housing and lottery regulations.
- You understand that once this lottery is run and ranks are generated, no further changes can be made to the screening pool or entry data.
Archives are created and data is uploaded to the cloud - accessible from the Archives button in the upper left.
Lottery Results
Review your results before proceeding with notifying participants.
Standard Lottery Results
- Entry IDs: assigned to participants in the ordered they submitted their lottery screening forms
- Rank: the position attributed to that entry
- Timestamp: when the rank was assigned, these will be sequential in a Standard Lottery
Weighted Lottery Results
For weighted lottery results are grouped by participant.
- Lottery ID: the Entry ID + and suffixes associated with a weighted criteria + number if more than one entry is awarded for the criteria
- Description: the criteria the entry was awarded for
Public Results
Once a Lottery is run, a public results webpage with your branding is created. The anonymous results are page is publicly accessible. The URL is accessible through the Results button in the top right, and included in lottery position communication templates.
Notifying Participants of Their Rank
Before notifying participants, confirm that final lottery rankings have been reviewed for accuracy, all submissions were processed in line with lottery rules and fair-housing requirements, and that notifications are final and cannot be undone once sent.
Resetting Lottery Ranks
If you are running a test or for any reason need to reset the lottery ranks, you may be do so before you notify participants of their rank. Click Cancel / Remove Entries and confirm:
- All assigned ranks and lottery entry records will be permanently deleted.
- This action will return the lottery to a pre-rank state — entries must be re-generated and ranked again to proceed.
- Any previously sent notifications will no longer reflect valid rankings and must be manually voided or addressed.
You will then have the Rank Lottery option again.
Preview Lottery Rank Notification
Use the Preview link to Preview Lottery Rank Email. You can add custom text to this email template in Lottery Screening Campaign → PH Screening → Communication Templates → Lottery Position (Single) for standard lotteries or Lottery Position (Multiple-Entry) for weighted lotteries.
Send Lottery Rank Notification
Click Notify Participants: This will send an email to all Participants with their rank(s) and a link to the Public Results. First Confirm:
- All assigned ranks and lottery entry records will be permanently deleted.
- This action will return the lottery to a pre-rank state — entries must be re-generated and ranked again to proceed.
- Any previously sent notifications will no longer reflect valid rankings and must be manually voided or addressed.
Once the notifications are sent, the Candidate Pool tab is accessible.
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