Cookie Policy
Local Draws Limited · Company No. 17322132 · 70 Marsland Road, Sale, England, M33 3HG
Version 1.0 · Effective 5 September 2026
What we store on your device, why, and what choices you have. We set only the cookies the site cannot work without, which is why you will not see a consent banner here.
1.What this policy covers
This policy explains what cookies and similar technologies we use on the Local Draws website, what they do, and what choices you have.
It sits alongside our Privacy Policy, which explains everything else we do with personal data. If a cookie collects information about you, the Privacy Policy explains your rights over that information.
2.What cookies are
A cookie is a small text file that a website stores on your device when you visit. It lets the site remember things between pages and between visits, such as the fact that you are signed in.
Some technologies work in a similar way without being cookies, such as local storage in your browser. Where we refer to cookies in this policy, we mean those too.
3.When we need your permission
The law treats cookies in two groups.
Strictly necessary cookies are ones the website cannot work without. Keeping you signed in securely is the clearest example. We do not need your consent for these, because without them the service you asked for would not function. We still tell you about them, which is what this page is for.
Everything else normally needs your permission before it is set. That includes advertising, and anything that follows you between websites. The regulations do allow a few narrow exceptions beyond the strictly necessary one, and we do not rely on any of them. This is required by the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003.
At the moment, Local Draws only sets strictly necessary cookies. We do not use advertising cookies, we do not use tracking cookies, we do not use session recording, and we do not share information with advertising networks.
This is why the notice you saw on your first visit does not ask you to accept or reject anything. There would be nothing to reject: the cookies below are set because the site cannot work without them, so a button appearing to refuse them could not be honoured. The notice tells you what is stored and points you here. If we ever introduce cookies that do need consent, you will get a real choice before anything is set — see section 6.
4.The cookies we use
All of the cookies below are strictly necessary.
Not available yet
Five rows below — the two lifetimes for `__client` and `__client_uat`, and the `__session`, `__cf_bm` and `_cfuvid` entries — come from Clerk's and Cloudflare's own documentation rather than from reading them in a browser, because they are either hidden from JavaScript or only appear once you have signed in. We are checking them against the live site and will correct anything that differs. We would rather show you an openly unconfirmed table than one containing guesses you could not check by opening your own browser.
| Name | Set by | What it does | How long it lasts |
|---|
| __client | Clerk, on clerk.localdraws.com | Identifies your browser to the account system so you can sign in and stay signed in. Cannot be read by JavaScript. | 400 days, or until you clear it |
| __client_uat | Clerk, on localdraws.com | Tells the site whether you are signed in, so pages render the right way round without a round trip. | 400 days, or until you clear it |
| __session | Clerk, on localdraws.com | Proves who you are to our servers on each request while you are signed in. | 1 minute, renewed automatically as you browse |
| __cf_bm | Cloudflare, on clerk.localdraws.com | Tells automated traffic apart from real visitors on our sign-in provider's servers. Set by Cloudflare, which our sign-in provider uses to protect its infrastructure. It does not follow you between websites. | 30 minutes |
| _cfuvid | Cloudflare, on clerk.localdraws.com | Lets our sign-in provider apply its rate limits per visitor rather than per network, so one busy connection cannot lock everybody else out. Not used for advertising or profiling. | Until you close your browser |
| ld_preview | Local Draws | Only before launch, and only if you have entered the preview password: remembers that you may see the pre-launch site. It is a signed, expiring token, it never contains the password, and it cannot be read by JavaScript. | 30 days, or until you clear it. Removed entirely when the site opens publicly |
Stored in your browser rather than in a cookie. The law treats these the same way as cookies, so they are covered by this policy too.
| Name | Set by | What it does | How long it lasts |
|---|
| __clerk_environment | Clerk (browser local storage) | Holds the sign-in configuration the account system needs to work. | Until cleared in your browser |
| ld.saved.v1 | Local Draws (browser local storage) | Remembers the draws you tapped the heart on. While you are signed out it stays on this device. When you sign in, your saved draws are copied to your account so they follow you to another device — see the Privacy Policy for what we then hold. | Until cleared in your browser |
| ld.basket.v1 | Local Draws (browser local storage) | Remembers what you put in your basket before you check out. While you are signed out it stays on this device. When you sign in, your basket is merged into your account so an intent to enter survives a device change. | Until cleared in your browser |
| ld.cookie-notice.v1 | Local Draws (browser local storage) | Remembers that you have already seen the cookie notice, so it does not reappear on every page. It records only the date you dismissed it. | Until cleared in your browser |
We do not use session storage at all.
Clerk provides our sign in and account system. Its cookies are what allow you to log in and stay logged in without re-entering your details on every page. Without them you could not use an account at all.
Clerk also stores information in your browser's local storage rather than in a cookie. The law treats that the same way, so it is covered by this policy and it is listed in the table above.
Images from other websites. Some prize and city photographs on our pages are loaded directly from other people's websites rather than copied onto ours. When your browser fetches one of those images, that website can see your IP address and which browser you are using, and may set its own cookies. We do not control what they set, and we receive nothing back from them.
If you would like more detail about any cookie in these tables, email us at hello@localdraws.com.
5.What we monitor, and what we do not
We do not run website analytics, advertising technology, heatmaps or session recording. Nothing on this site builds a profile of you, and nothing follows you between websites.
We do monitor errors and speed. We use a service called Sentry to tell us when a page breaks, and on a small sample of visits how long pages take to load. It is how we find out something is broken before you have to tell us. It collects the technical details of the error or the page load, along with your IP address and general information about your browser and device.
Sentry stores nothing on your device. It sets no cookie and saves nothing in your browser, so it does not need your permission under the cookie rules. We rely on our legitimate interests in running a website that works. Sentry acts as our processor and its servers are in the European Union.
6.What happens if we add analytics or advertising
We may in future want to understand how people use the site, for example which draws people look at before entering. If we do, we will ask for your consent before we use them, and we will:
- show a cookie banner before setting any non-essential cookie
- make refusing as easy and as prominent as accepting
- set nothing beyond the strictly necessary cookies unless and until you agree
- let you change your mind at any time
- update this policy with the new cookies before they go live, not afterwards
We will not quietly turn tracking on behind an existing banner.
7.Managing cookies yourself
You can control cookies through your browser settings, including blocking them or deleting ones already stored. Every major browser has a privacy or cookies section in its settings menu, and its own help pages explain how.
Please note: if you block the strictly necessary cookies described in section 4, you will not be able to sign in to Local Draws or enter a draw. Nothing we can do will work around that, because those cookies are how signing in works. Blocking what we store in your browser will also lose your basket and the draws you have saved.
Blocking cookies in one browser does not block them in another, and doing it on your laptop does not do it on your phone. You would need to do it in each browser you use.
8.Cookies on other websites
Our site and our emails may link to other websites, including those of Prize Partners. Once you leave our site, this policy no longer applies. Those websites set their own cookies and have their own policies, which we do not control.
9.Changes to this policy
We may update this policy, particularly if we add new tools to the site. When we do, we will publish the updated version here and change the version number and effective date at the top. Where a change means we need your consent for something new, we will ask you at that point rather than relying on you noticing the update.
These terms apply from the effective date above. Anything marked “not available yet” is something we have committed to and have not finished building; that commitment takes effect for you when the feature does. We keep every published version — ask us for the one that applied to a draw you entered.