Rules need to be drafted and publicized with different mechanisms. Just north of the United States, in Canada, the laws regulating sweepstakes and contests require sponsors to choose winners differently. At the same time, brands frequently ignore the crucial step of clearing the games in their target international venues. Kyle-Beth: With increased globalization of marketing and social media blurring boundaries, more social media sweepstakes and contests are multinational. Domenic: What if you want to run sweepstakes or contests in other countries, besides the USA? Many promotions are hybrids between sweepstakes and contests and require vetting to ensure their legality. These days, sweepstakes and contests have become sophisticated because of the drive towards consumer engagement. Consideration means either a monetary requirement or substantial consideration. A sweepstakes would eliminate consideration. A skill contest would eliminate chance, although in a handful of states monetary consideration to enter is still a problem.

The lottery and gambling laws interpret those elements slightly differently, but, upon the elimination of one of the three elements, a brand normally would have a legal giveaway. Generally, for a promotion to be legal, it cannot have all three elements of prize, chance, and consideration. There are also certain federal laws and regulations that can come into play pursuant to Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act. Kyle-Beth: In the United States, promotional giveaways are governed by lottery and gambling laws in each of the 50 states.

Domenic: How does a brand know if its giveaway is legal? Domenic Romano and Kyle-Beth Hilfer of Hilfer Law recently discussed common questions about launching these prize drawings and relevant legal advice. The legal requirements, however, for these games are complex. Sweepstakes and contests have increased in popularity as a way of engaging consumers.

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