Cookie Policy
Last updated: 15 October 2026
This policy explains what cookies are, which ones we use, what each one does, and how you can control them. It sits alongside our Privacy Policy, which explains how we handle your personal data more generally.
Our site is operated by Big Mouth Competitions Limited, company number 16761060, registered office 1st Floor Waterside House, Waterside Drive, Wigan, Lancashire, England, WN3 5AZ. You can contact us about anything in this policy at hello@bigmouthcompetitions.com.
1. What cookies are
A cookie is a small text file that a website asks your browser to store on your device. When you come back, the browser sends the file back, so the site can recognise your session and remember things like whether you are logged in or what is in your basket.
Some cookies are set by the website you are visiting. These are called first-party cookies. Others are set by a different organisation whose content or service the page uses. These are called third-party cookies.
Cookies are not the only way of storing information in a browser. Local storage and session storage do a similar job, and where we mention cookies in this policy we mean those technologies too.
2. Our approach
We use two kinds of cookies:
- strictly necessary cookies, which keep you logged in, hold your basket together, carry your session from one page to the next, and protect the site against attacks and automated abuse; and
- analytics cookies, which tell us how the site is used, such as which pages are visited and how people arrive at the site, so that we can improve it.
We do not use:
- advertising or retargeting cookies;
- cookies that build an advertising profile of you or follow you across other websites;
- social media tracking pixels.
Under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003, as amended by the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, we do not need your consent for cookies that are strictly necessary for a service you have asked for, or for cookies that are used only to collect statistical information about how our site is used so that we can improve it, as long as we tell you about them clearly and give you a simple way to object. That is why you will not see a cookie banner on our site. You can turn off analytics cookies at any time using the button in section 4.
If we ever want to use a cookie that does need your consent, we will ask for your consent before setting it, and we will update this policy first.
We serve the fonts, images and scripts for our website from our own servers. The instant win game screens you see after entering some competitions load their fonts from Google Fonts. This shares your IP address with Google so that the font can be delivered, but it does not set any cookies.
3. The cookies we set
Your account and login
| Cookie | What it does | How long it lasts |
|---|---|---|
wordpress_sec_ followed by a hash |
Authenticates you after you log in and secures your session. Marked as HttpOnly so scripts cannot read it. | Until you close your browser, or 14 days if you chose “remember me” |
wordpress_logged_in_ followed by a hash |
Tells the site you are logged in and which account you are using. | Until you close your browser, or 14 days if you chose “remember me” |
wordpress_test_cookie |
Checks that your browser accepts cookies at all, before we try to log you in. | Until you close your browser |
wp-settings- followed by your user ID |
Remembers small display preferences for your account. | 1 year |
wp-settings-time- followed by your user ID |
Records when those preferences were last changed. | 1 year |
Entering competitions
| Cookie | What it does | How long it lasts |
|---|---|---|
wp_woocommerce_session_ followed by a hash |
Holds a unique code that lets us find your basket and your session data on our server. Without it we cannot keep your entries together while you move through the site. | 2 days |
woocommerce_cart_hash |
Tells the site when the contents of your basket have changed, so the page updates. | Until you close your browser |
woocommerce_items_in_cart |
Records that your basket is not empty, so the basket icon displays correctly. | Until you close your browser |
store_notice followed by a notice identifier |
Remembers that you have dismissed a site notice, so it is not shown again. | Until you close your browser |
Security
These are set by Cloudflare, which sits in front of our site to protect it from attacks and automated abuse.
| Cookie | What it does | How long it lasts |
|---|---|---|
__cf_bm |
Distinguishes real visitors from bots, so that automated entry attempts and attacks can be blocked. | 30 minutes |
_cfuvid |
Lets rate limiting work correctly by telling requests from different visitors apart. | Until you close your browser |
cf_clearance |
Records that you have passed a security check, so you are not challenged repeatedly. | Up to 1 year |
Cloudflare acts as our processor for these cookies and does not use them to track you across other websites.
Analytics
We use Google Analytics, loaded through Google Tag Manager, to count visits and see which pages and competitions are used, so that we can improve the site. Google acts as our processor. We have not switched on Google’s advertising features, and this information is not used to build advertising profiles. We also use WooCommerce’s order attribution feature, which records how you arrived at our site so that we can see which channels bring people to us.
| Cookie | What it does | How long it lasts |
|---|---|---|
_ga |
Set by Google Analytics. Distinguishes one visitor from another so that visits can be counted. | Up to 13 months |
_ga_ followed by an identifier |
Set by Google Analytics. Keeps track of the current visit so that pages viewed in the same visit are counted together. | Up to 13 months |
sbjs_current, sbjs_current_add, sbjs_first, sbjs_first_add, sbjs_udata, sbjs_migrations |
Set by WooCommerce. Record how you arrived at our site, for example from a search engine or a link, so that if you enter a competition we can see which channel brought you to us. | Until you close your browser |
sbjs_session |
Set by WooCommerce. Tells the cookies above whether you are still on the same visit. | 30 minutes |
Your analytics choice
| Cookie | What it does | How long it lasts |
|---|---|---|
bmc_analytics_optout |
Only set if you turn off analytics cookies. Remembers your choice so that analytics stays off. | 1 year |
4. Turning off analytics cookies
You can turn analytics cookies off, or back on, at any time using the button below. When you turn them off, we delete the analytics cookies listed in section 3, Google Analytics stops collecting information from your browser, and WooCommerce stops recording how you arrived at our site. Your choice applies to the browser you are using now, so if you use more than one browser or device, you will need to do this on each one.
Analytics cookies are on for this browser.
If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal, we treat it as a request to turn off analytics cookies, and we do not set them.
5. Browser storage
Our site stores a small amount of information in your browser’s local storage to make pages work correctly, for example remembering the state of an expanded section, whether you have already seen a pop-up today, or the progress of an instant win game while you are playing it. This information stays on your device, is not sent to us, and can be cleared through your browser settings.
6. Links to other sites
Our site links to our Facebook page, and to other websites we do not control. We do not embed tracking pixels or social media widgets in our pages, so simply visiting our site does not share anything with those platforms. Once you click a link and leave our site, the other organisation’s cookie and privacy policies apply, not ours.
7. Controlling cookies in your browser
Every major browser lets you see the cookies stored on your device, delete them, and block new ones. The relevant settings are usually under Privacy or Security:
- Chrome: Settings, then Privacy and security, then Third-party cookies
- Safari: Settings, then Privacy
- Firefox: Settings, then Privacy & Security
- Edge: Settings, then Cookies and site permissions
Blocking the strictly necessary cookies listed in section 3 will stop you from logging in, keeping a basket, or entering a competition, because those cookies are what make those things work. Deleting them will log you out and empty your basket.
Some browsers also send an older “Do Not Track” signal. There is no agreed standard for responding to it, so we do not act on it, but you can turn off analytics cookies as described in section 4.
8. Changes to this policy
We will update this policy whenever the cookies we use change. The date at the top shows when it was last revised. If we ever introduce a cookie that needs your consent, we will ask for your consent before setting it.
9. Questions and complaints
If you have a question about this policy, email hello@bigmouthcompetitions.com. We aim to acknowledge your message within 2 working days and respond within 14 days.
You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office, the UK regulator responsible for cookies and data protection, at https://ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.