Sweepstakes are contests where winners are chosen at random from a pool of qualified entrants, often used to promote a product or attract new customers. Lotteries may require skill, but most only require filling out a form. Sponsors must follow rules of fairness and disqualify those associated with them. Some contests may be considered skill contests if entrants must provide a creative answer or perform a skill. Sweepstakes can be conducted legally by selecting a winner at random.
In horseracing parlance, those who bet are actually investing a stake in the outcome. The lucky winners collect or “collect” all stakes collected as a reward. Thus the term sweepstakes came into popular usage as any contest in which winners are selected at random from a pool of qualified entrants. Sponsors of a sweepstakes are generally responsible for determining how a qualified entry is defined and other eligibility rules.
Many lotteries are offered as a raffle to participants who purchase tickets, fill out information forms, or complete an online submission form. Some lotteries require entrants to qualify by accumulating points in a skill contest or trivia game, but technically speaking most lotteries don’t require entrants to have any specific skills other than the ability to fill out a form and follow written directions.
The purpose of a sweepstakes is often to promote a product or attract potential new customers through a strong association between the prizes and the sponsor. For example, a travel agency may hold a sweepstakes where the grand prize is a week-long trip to a luxury resort that the travel agency already represents. Other smaller prizes in a company-sponsored lottery might be a generous supply of a product or a gradation of cash prizes.
The odds of winning a prize in a typical sweepstakes depend on the total number of entries, but a national contest sponsored by a large company could receive millions of qualified entries, especially if multiple entries are allowed from each entrant. While the odds of winning the single grand prize may be infinitesimal, many people still enter a sweepstakes to win several smaller prizes with seemingly better odds.
Sponsors of legitimate lotteries must abide by the same rules of fairness that govern lotteries and other contests involving random winner selection. Employees, family members, and others directly associated with the sponsor or performer of a sweepstakes are often disqualified to avoid the appearance of bias, for example. There may also be age restrictions and entrants may be disqualified for unauthorized tampering with their entry forms or other forms of fraud.
Some contests may look like sweepstakes in form, but sponsors may consider them skill contests if entrants must provide a creative answer to a question or draw a picture or perform some other skill to qualify. These types of contests should be judged by qualified experts before a winner can be selected. A real sweepstakes, on the other hand, can be conducted legally by reaching for a drum full of entries or by using a randomization program to select a winner from electronic entries held on a hard drive or computer server.
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