From a luxury car and lavish holidays to, curiously, a half-pint of milk, Lyndsey Bruce has won thousands of prizes since she entered her first competition nearly 40 years ago.
But the 58-year-old from Arbroath doesn’t consider herself lucky.
No, she is a ‘comper’.
If you haven’t heard of comping before, you’re not alone.
It is the art of systematically entering hundreds of free competitions – often for hours every day – as opposed to entering the odd one here and there.
And with TV stars such as money saving expert Martin Lewis regularly hailing the monetary benefits of the quirky hobby, it is quickly becoming a growing trend.
‘I was a comper before there was even a name for it’
Lyndsey says she has won prizes worth tens of thousands’ of pounds over the years.
She spends two hours entering about 50 competitions every day.
These figures double in December – the busiest time of year for compers due to an influx of festive competitions.
For Lyndsey, it all started in the 1980s.
As a teenager, she entered a Eurovision competition on Radio Luxembourg and subsequently won a shiny purple and silver belt.
She said: “I got the bug and it just kind of snowballed into what it is now.
“I was a comper before there was even a name for it.”
The retired bank auditor says the world of comping has changed drastically since then.
She said: “You didn’t use the internet in those days.
“You used to scour the supermarkets and magazines and so on.
“But it’s easy now as most competitions are online.”
How Lyndsey won a £20,000 car
As a seasoned comper, Lyndsey has won more prizes than she can count.
She said: “The best prize I have ever won is a car.
“I won it on a TV game show – The Wheel of Fortune.
“It was a Suzuki Vitara, worth around £20,000.“
She has also won multiple holidays, including luxury spa weekends and all-inclusive trips to Paris, Copenhagen and York.
Not to mention tickets to major sporting events over the years, including the UEFA Champions League semi-finals in Madrid, the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and the Royal Ascot.
These trips are usually for two, meaning her friends often luck out as well.
But these are just the tip of the iceberg.
Lyndsey’s list of prizes also includes a Dyson Airwrap, three iPhones, multiple PlayStations and TVs, gym memberships and KitchenAid appliances.
More recently, she won a year’s supply of shoes. “I got to choose a pair of shoes up to a value of £100 every month for a year, so I’ve got more shoes than I know what to do with.”
‘I’ve won some strange prizes’
Lyndsey says she has won some “strange” prizes.
She said: “The strangest prize I have ever won is a giant life-sized cardboard cutout of Martin Johnson, the rugby player.
“That was one of those runners-up prizes you get instead of the main prize.
“But a local rugby club were more than happy to take it off my hands.
“I also once got a half-pint of milk in the post.
“I opened it up and I was like, ‘What is this?’
“I still have no idea where it came from.
“And I once won a Smeg fridge freezer and a year’s supply of smoothies
“But they sent me the entire year’s supply of smoothies at the same time and I had all these smoothies that I had no way of storing!
“I was like, ‘What am I going to do with all these smoothies?’
“I ended up going round people offering them smoothies.”
Lyndsey added that comping has encouraged her to try new things.
She said: “I have also been able to experience things I wouldn’t otherwise have experienced.
“I once won a holiday in a log cabin in a forest in north Yorkshire, which wouldn’t have been my choice of holiday, but I loved it.
“I’ve also been up in a hot air balloon which I probably wouldn’t have done.”
So, how does it work in practice?
Lyndsey says the majority of competitions take place on social media.
Those wishing to enter a competition they see online must ‘like’ and share it, before tagging their friends in the comments.
This is usually how compers find competitions.
Lyndsey said: “There is a lot on social media, especially if you follow a lot of compers.
“If you enter competitions then the algorithm will bring up more competitions on your feed, because it knows that you want to enter competitions.
Becoming ‘harder to win’ as comping industry grows in popularity
“Compers share them with fellow compers.
“We are not the kind of people that say, ‘Oh, I’ve found a competition, I’m going to keep it to myself’.
“I’ve made a lot of friends through comping over the years.
“There are lots of groups across the UK and we meet up regularly.”
She added: “There are also a few different competition websites people use to find competitions.
“I tend to use Loquax because I like how it is set out – it is quite straightforward.
“Money Saving Expert is also a favourite for a lot of people, as is Prize Minder.”
But Lyndsey admits it is becoming harder to win as more people discover comping.
She said: “The industry has definitely grown in recent times.
“More and more people are involved than ever before.
“Compers are on TV or get interviewed and then other people think, ‘Oh, I could do that’.
“There are definitely more people doing it now. It is harder to win than it used to be.”
Lyndsey’s winning tips for comping beginners
Lyndsey has some advice for those wishing to get into comping.
She said: “If anyone is getting into comping I would suggest they set up a separate email account because you will get hundreds of emails every day.
“Important emails get lost in all the junk email that you get.
“People also shouldn’t be disheartened if they don’t win straight away.
“The trick is to enter a lot – volume is key.
“I kept a record one year of how many competitions I was entering per month and how many prizes I won per month and it worked out at roughly 1%.
“That means you have to enter a hundred competitions to win one prize – that is how mine averaged out over the year.”
What is she hoping to win next?
Lyndsey said: “I don’t have any trips coming up at the moment unfortunately, so I’m hoping to win some!
“I did win £100 worth of flowers yesterday though, so that’s something.”
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