When Do Tickets Actually Sell?

Competitions are quiet for most of their run, then see a concentrated surge of ticket sales in the final 24 hours. At one day before close, the average sell-through across all tracked competitions sits at 33.7%. By the time of the draw, that number rises to 62.3% — a 28-percentage-point jump in the last day alone. The early weeks of a competition's run are, on average, slow.

In practical terms: entering a week before a competition closes gives you near-identical odds to entering on the day it launched. The final day is when most sales happen, so getting in before that rush is the better play. The one caveat is sell-out risk — if a competition happens to fill completely before its draw date, entering early protects you from missing it. On current data, that's the exception rather than the rule. See the site comparison for which sites are most likely to draw before selling out.