A FORMER Bradford College student says he is offering free money with his latest online venture.

Web designer James Genchi, whose last technology project attracted five million fans, has set up Emoji Lottery with fellow digital worker Matt Mosley.

Players have a chance of winning prizes without paying an entry free, simply by entering their favourite emoji in a daily draw.

Emojis are tiny pictures used in mobile phone and computer messages to illustrate emotions and ideas, such as smiley faces or anger.

Emoji Lottery allows users to choose an emoji on the website emojilottery.co.uk, enter their name and email address, and wait to discover if they have one.

Mr Genchi said the site will also be making a monthly donation to good causes.

He said: “The site was established to offer a fun and free alternative to the traditional national lotteries that continue to worsen odds while increasing ticket prices.

“The site makes money entirely from advertising and will be making monthly donations from the proceeds to good causes.

“After each draw, players have 24 hours to check their ticket and, if they’re a winner, claim their prize. If no one claims the cash within this time it rolls over to the next draw.”

Mr Genchi, 24, studied photography at Bradford College before working at a Keighley-based media company and later an agency in Leeds. He is a self-taught web developer and designer, who in 2010, built a free web app that attracted more than five million downloads and generated revenue through advertising.

Mr Mosley, 28, moved from Derby to study New Media at the University of Leeds, and now works within the digital department of an agency in Leeds.

Both working in the digital sector, they met and quickly bonded over a mutual fondness for emojis.

Within a week of launching the site last month, the pair had been featured on Martin Lewis’s popular Money Saving Expert website.