Serving in the RAF might seem like the perfect grounding for someone who wants to launch a new business idea and make it fly, but the man behind Borders Competitions was less fearful in the Forces than he was getting his own business off the ground.
Jack Crowe was just 24 when he started Borders Competitions, which has been voted ‘Berwickshire’s Favourite Business’ in the annual Scottish Borders Business Excellence Awards (SBBEA). In just over three years, he has handed out a staggering £20m worth of prizes, and donated over £220,000 to local schools, charities, clubs and groups, as well as sponsoring the Jim Clark Rally.
Organised by the Scottish Borders Chamber of Commerce, the ‘Favourite Business’ was introduced two years ago to enable the public to vote on business excellence, and Borders Competitions will now vie with the winners in Ettrick and Lauderdale, Roxburghshire and Tweeddale for the title of ‘Borders Favourite Business 2026’ at the awards night in Peebles Hydro Hotel next month after more than 1,200 public votes were cast.
Crowe, a former Berwickshire High School pupil who grew up in Chirnside, explained that he launched Borders Competitions in early 2023 because he felt that his local region was in danger of being left behind ‘again’ by online trends, this one being competitions allowing people to buy tickets from as little as 1p to win major cash and other prizes.
He had left the RAF after four years to move into business and after finding mobile car detailing and valeting had a downside of few clients through the winter he watched the emergence of online competition sites with growing interest. He worked offshore on wind farms while exploring it and when a contract ended, he decided to take a leap of faith.
I saw them springing up and thought ‘why isn’t there a Borders site?’ The thing that bothered me was that you didn’t really trust them because you never knew anyone who won, and those who said they provided community benefit, well, I couldn’t see anything coming back to Borders communities.
So, it seemed that there was a gap there, but I didn’t really think I could fill it. I had the idea of Borders Competitions but it took me about six months to do anything about it because I was too scared at first, and my parents were not for it either. Even four months after I did launch it, I was still too frightened to let people know it was me because I worried I was embarrassing myself.
He then decided to front up and make himself known, going online to advertise Borders Competitions and make personal visits to winners, and that proved a masterstroke.
For the first four or five months, I didn’t make any money, but I realised I needed to build that legitimacy and trust in Borders Competitions, and the best way to do that was to put myself out there. And when I did it took off.
Lots of people knew me from my car detailing business and word started to spread that people could trust me. As the number of players grew we could offer bigger prizes, and when we had a £30,000 winner in Kelso everything went mad.
We had mostly been based around Berwickshire, but then we had loads of people from Kelso and further across the Borders taking part, so the prizes grew, more people won and spread their joy, and in an area like the Borders pretty soon everyone knew someone who had won something.
Borders Competitions now has around 20,000 weekly participants which can mean more than £200,000 coming into the business in one week, but with cash prizes of £100,000, cars, motorhomes, holidays and many other prizes going out daily it can be a pressurised business.
Crowe gauges how many people he thinks will enter every competition and admits he got it ‘badly wrong and lost loads’ with a recent £240,000 car giveaway. He also receives quite a bit of flak from people yet to win and says he is acutely aware of concerns around gambling addictions.
He explained: “When I started this, I bought an online template for about £500 and it was pretty basic, but there were regular problems and I was let down by providers, so I’ve spent a lot of time learning how to develop the competitions site as I’ve gone.”
“Part of that is technical, but a big part has also been understanding the psychological side of competitions because it is addictive. We are not classed as a gambling organisation, but we have installed measures you find on a gambling site. I also monitor what we’re doing closely, and I can see when people are spending large amounts and playing a lot.”
“This was started to be fun and I ask people to be sensible and only spend an amount that has no real impact on them. Addiction to anything is not good, and I have worked with individuals, spouses and families to address concerns, and, on a few occasions, I’ve blocked people from taking part to address signs of addiction.”
He added: “I like to think of myself as a responsible person and businessman, and what’s amazing about being voted Berwickshire’s ‘Favourite Business’ is that local people have voted for this. That gives me heart that a lot of people think Borders Competitions was a good idea and what I’m doing is worthwhile.”
