Cookie Policy
Every category of cookie and browser storage used on win4carcer.ca, what each one does, how long it lasts, and how to change your mind.
Last updated 16 June 2026.
1. What a cookie is
A cookie is a small text file a website asks your browser to keep. On the next page you open, the browser hands it back, which is how a site remembers that you chose English, or that you are signed in, or that you already answered the cookie question.
Two related technologies do similar jobs and this policy treats them the same way. Local storage keeps information in your browser until you clear it, and holds your account records on this site. Pixels and script tags let a measurement service count a visit. Wherever this page says cookie, read it as covering all three.
Cookies set by win4carcer.ca are first-party. Cookies set by a service the Foundation uses, such as a measurement provider, are third-party, and the table below names the provider in each case.
2. Nothing optional runs before you choose
When you first arrive, a banner asks how you want cookies handled. Until you answer, only the strictly necessary category is active. No measurement script is fetched, no analytics identifier is written and no advertising signal is sent.
The banner offers three choices of equal weight: accept all, reject all, or manage the categories one by one. Rejecting everything takes one click, the same as accepting everything. No optional category is pre-selected, and closing the banner without choosing is not treated as consent.
Where a measurement property has not been configured, the analytics category has nothing to run. The site requests nothing and sets nothing, whatever you choose.
Consent mode
The site uses Google consent mode. Before you answer, the storage signals for analytics, advertising, advertising user data, advertising personalisation, functionality and personalisation are all set to denied. Your choice updates those signals. Denied means the tag does not write or read a cookie.
Your answer is recorded as version 1 of this policy and lasts 180 days, after which you are asked again. Publishing a new version of the categories also resets the record so the question can be put again.
3. The categories in use
| Category | Purpose | Examples | Retention | Provider |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strictly necessary | Language choice, sign-in session, consent record, form security. | w4c_lang, w4c_session, w4c_consent | Session to 180 days | win4carcer.ca |
| Preferences | Remembers interface choices such as text size and dismissed notices. | w4c_prefs | 12 months | win4carcer.ca |
| Analytics | Counts visits and measures which pages are used, in aggregate. | _ga, _ga_* | Up to 14 months | Google Analytics 4 |
| Marketing | Measures which campaigns bring supporters to the site. | _gcl_au | Up to 90 days | Google Ads |
Strictly necessary
These keep the site working and cannot be switched off, because without them the site cannot do what you asked it to. They remember which language you are reading, keep you signed in while you move between account sections, hold the record of the cookie choice you made, and protect the forms against automated submission.
Your account records live in this category. First name, email address, saved ticket numbers, reminder settings, budget and donation entries are all kept in your own browser's local storage. They are never transmitted to the Foundation and there is no server copy.
Preferences
Interface choices that make the site easier to come back to: a larger text setting, a notice you dismissed, a section you had open. Declining this category costs you nothing except having to make those choices again on your next visit.
Analytics
Aggregate measurement through Google Analytics 4, with IP anonymisation on. It counts visits, shows which pages people use and where they stop reading. The Foundation uses that to decide what needs rewriting — for example, whether the rule about pairing a 50/50 ticket with a main ticket is being read before people reach the packages.
The events recorded are limited to a defined list: opening the rules, downloading the rules, clicking a buy control, sending the contact form, switching language, and a small number of account milestones. Nothing you type into a form is measured, and no analytics identifier is joined to your account.
Marketing
Measures which advertising campaign brought a visitor to the site, so the Foundation knows what is worth paying for. It records the arrival, not the person. The Foundation does not build advertising audiences from this site and does not sell the data.
4. Changing your mind
Use the cookie control in the footer of every page, or the button at the top of this page. The panel opens with your current settings, each category on its own switch, and saving takes effect at once. Turning a category off stops it from that moment; it does not delete measurements already made in aggregate, which cannot be traced back to you.
Through your browser
Every major browser lets you see the cookies a site has set, delete them, and block future ones. The controls live under Settings, then Privacy. Blocking all cookies in the browser will also block the strictly necessary category, and the site will stop remembering your language, keeping you signed in and holding your account records.
Clearing your browser data on this device deletes your account and everything saved in it. The Foundation has no copy and cannot restore it. Export your data first from Privacy and data inside the account if you want to keep it.
Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control
Where your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal, the site treats it as a refusal of the analytics and marketing categories and does not ask again until you change it yourself.
5. What declining changes
- Reject all. The site works normally. Jackpot figures, countdowns, the rules, the schedule, the winners table and the account area all behave the same. The Foundation loses the aggregate measurement.
- Preferences off. Interface choices reset between visits.
- Analytics off. No measurement identifier is written and no measurement script is loaded.
- Marketing off. Campaign attribution stops. No advertising cookie is written.
- All browser cookies blocked. Language resets to the default, sign-in does not persist, the cookie banner reappears on every page, and the account area cannot store anything.
6. The rules behind this
The Foundation applies PIPEDA, which requires meaningful consent before personal information is collected, and requires that consent to be as easy to withdraw as it was to give. Guidance from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada on online tracking is the standard applied here.
The Privacy Policy covers everything else: what is collected, why, how long it is kept, who else sees it, and the rights you can exercise.
7. Changes to this policy
The Foundation updates this page when the categories change. Adding a category, or changing what an existing one does, raises the consent version and the banner asks again. The date below shows when the page last changed.
8. Contact
Questions about cookies go to privacy@win4carcer.ca. General enquiries go to support@win4carcer.ca.
Last updated 16 June 2026.