How to Set Up a Prediction League on a Tight Budget

**TL;DR: **You can run a prediction league for zero pounds. Use a free game like ScoreBadger, a group chat for banter, and prizes that cost nothing - bragging rights, a wooden spoon trophy, or the loser buying the first round when you next meet up.

Most prediction leagues start the same way: a WhatsApp message saying we should do this for the season. Then someone realises they need a spreadsheet, a way to score, and possibly a kitty. The whole thing dies before the first kickoff. The fix is to strip the setup down to its cheapest possible form.

Pick a free game, not a paid one

Paying per player kills momentum. A 10-person league at even £5 each is £50 nobody really wants to chase down in March. Free prediction games handle the scoring automatically and let everyone join with an email address.

If you want to compare options, see free vs paid prediction games and our breakdown of the best prediction games for beginners.

Decide on the simplest possible scoring

The single biggest cause of league drop-off is confusing rules. People predict once, get a weird number of points, and tune out. Stick to a clear, defendable scoring system everyone can repeat from memory.

Exact score: 3 points
Correct result (win, draw, lose): 1 point
Anything else: 0 points
No bonus rounds, no doublers, no joker weeks

That is roughly the model ScoreBadger uses by default. For more on the trade-offs, read our complete guide to prediction scoring systems.

Use a group chat as your only comms channel

Email newsletters die. Forum threads die. Group chats keep the league alive between fixtures. WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, Discord - any of them work. The point is that one place handles fixture reminders, banter, screenshots of the leaderboard, and arguments about who tipped the 4-3.

If you want to know why this matters, see why every prediction league needs a group chat.