Games of both skill and chance have been a hallmark of fun and engaging brands for years. But, before you break out the big wheel and start spinning, there are some things you should consider to save yourself a lot of headache later.

Now, rules can seem like a buzzkill. Who wants to spend their time sorting through legalese when you could be promoting all of the cool prizes? With what is ostensibly a small investment in contest management software and some kind of prize, you could potentially reach millions—even tens of millions—of people without much additional cost.

Your goal is to create a feedback loop where contest participants are also encouraged to promote the contest itself, driving more participants and more promotion.

This cool promotion engaged the local community and built awareness for the bike-sharing program and its sponsors with a public voting option that allowed Portlanders to select the designs they wanted to see built.

Organizers needed to disclose the specifics of the submission and voting mechanisms, explain the criteria for selection, and secure usage rights for the submitted artwork from each individual artist.

For example, clothing and accessories company Cole Haan was issued a warning from the FTC in after it launched a promotion on Pinterest using the hashtag, wanderingsoles.

In this case, regulators argued that the brand had not adequately spelled out the terms of this promotion nor disclosed that it was a promotion, which could mislead consumers.

This has implications for the legal items in play. The difference should be pretty clear, but a sweepstakes is a game of chance. Sweepstakes implies that anyone can enter for free and the winner is selected based on probability and not skill. On the flip side, a contest involves some level of skill or judgment.

This could involve photography, singing, writing, or any other type of creative work or performance. What you really want to avoid is creating a lottery—which is a form of gambling and strictly controlled by state and federal regulations.

What this means it that if your brand is hosting a sweepstakes, you need to make it free for anyone to enter to win.

If your giveaway is a contest where entries will be judged based on specific criteria or general merit, there is a different set of considerations. For one, you can ask for an entry fee to cover the costs associated with judging or generate a profit.

Since entry is not based on chance, this would not constitute a lottery. But, with contests, you need to also spell out the methods and criteria that will be used to judge and select the winners in advance. These three components make up the legal body of your promotion, so defining them clearly in legally-binding language is critical to success.

In this piece, you want to clearly define all of the elements of participation in your giveaway and what an entrant or potential entrant may want to know. The rules of your contest should clearly state what prize will be awarded to the winner. If the prize is a trip or an accolade, that should also be clearly spelled out in detail.

You may also want to consider what happens if the winner is unable or unwilling to accept the stated prize—is there an alternative? These details are important to decide in advance—and it can be challenging to think through the possible outcomes and scenarios ahead of time and write a flawless description of the prizes up for grabs.

Sweepstakes terms are pretty straightforward. You can simply explain that the winner will be chosen at random from all entries. This could include a specific criteria or framework for evaluation, or it could use broad legal language that indicates that the selection is based on personal, subjective evaluation and that there is no defined framework.

In either case, your company must have a legal framework in place before using this content in any kind of promotional way. So, if you want to collect photos entries from your customers and use them in a later ad campaign, you need to collect usage rights from each individual person who submits a photo for your campaign.

You can make a blanket statement in your contest rules about assigning rights, but legal cases have turned this into a gray area. Anheuser-Bush, for example, was recently sued by a customer whose photo was ostensibly submitted through a hashtag campaign and later used in an advertisement.

One sure-fire way to keep your brand out of the spotlight in the bad way is to use a contest management platform where all users submit their work directly rather than via a hashtag through a submission portal.

Please refer to our best practice guidelines for keeping any Giveaway legal and fun. A complete template is built into KickoffLabs, but you can also download our rules for free to modify for your own use.

In Great Britain, the Gambling Act holds that organizers of certain types of promotions, such as lotteries, must be licensed. Yet this is only true for England, Scotland, and Wales because these countries are all overseen by the same Gambling Commission, which creates the regulations for lotteries and raffles.

Northern Ireland happens to be a bit different as it has a different governing body that is concerned with promotions of this kind. So you should know that the laws will be different across the whole of the UK, but will be the same within Great Britain.

Only Northern Ireland differs when gambling is concerned. Just make sure to limit entries to residents of Great Britain. This will ensure that you only have to be concerned about acting in accordance with one set of rules. Of course, the simpler solution is to go with a different type of giveaway that does not require paid entries.

However, either way, once you know that your contest is legal - whether you are licensed or you have taken steps to ensure no license is required. You should now feel more prepared to host a giveaway for your brand in the United Kingdom.

Though it may seem daunting at first to figure out what you are permitted to do and what you will require from participants, the rewards will be well worth it.

After you run one successful giveaway, it will be a simple process to do another one in the future! Word of mouth marketing made easy with viral giveaways, referral programs, or product launches that can be setup in minutes! Start For Free Get a Demo. Start building with amazing support today.

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Log In Start Free! Running a legal a contest, giveaway, or sweepstakes in the UK By Josh Ledgard. Guides Legal Giveaway Best Practices 8 Best Practices in the UK 1.

Introduction 2. Types of Legal Giveaways 4. Important Terms 5. Social Media Rules for Giveaways 6. Best Practices in the US 7.

Information on the rules you must follow when you hold free draws and prize competitions Click on each heading below to download the relevant contest guides: · BJA Level 1 · 1st4Sport Level 2 · 1st4Sport Level 3 · MSc Advanced Sport Coaching A BJA Contest Rules Quick Reference Guide is also available which summarises the key differences in rule sets at different event levels. British

Contest rules - Acceptance of prize constitutes permission for [your company name] to use Winner's name, likeness, and entry for purposes of advertising and trade without Information on the rules you must follow when you hold free draws and prize competitions Click on each heading below to download the relevant contest guides: · BJA Level 1 · 1st4Sport Level 2 · 1st4Sport Level 3 · MSc Advanced Sport Coaching A BJA Contest Rules Quick Reference Guide is also available which summarises the key differences in rule sets at different event levels. British

The landing page also has a popup that requests an email address for people who want to receive their newsletter and news about special events.

What could be better: The only rule "violation" I see is that they should have included their time zone for the contest end date. What they did right: Eddie Bauer has done just about everything right, including adding details about how they determine the winner each month.

They've got a very vibrant Instagram page and they've done a great job in promoting their hashtag: WhyIHike has more than 60, posts not all of them are also tagged with eddiebauer, but a large percentage seem to be.

What could be better: Eddie Bauer nailed it from start to finish, including covering all the rules on their landing page. What they did right: Shoegallery Online offers a somewhat unique take on tagging by asking people to comment with emojis which I love!

They also make it clear that the contest is only for people who live in the U. What could be better: They don't include details about how the winner will claim Shoe Gallery's prize -- presumably they do so when they contact the winner?

What they did right: In the caption, The French Folk let participants know how they'll choose a winner and when the winner will be notified. They also make sure people know they may be responsible for the cost of shipping. By clearly spelling out their terms, The French Folk avoid any complaints about the cost associated with shipping the prize.

What could be better: As with so many Instagram contests, the "tag as many friends as you want" instruction could ultimately be a hassle for The French Folk, people could complain about being spammed, and this setup doesn't give them the leads they could use at some point down the road.

If you're interested in running an Instagram contest and have questions about rules, get in touch. We're happy to offer advice. Get Started Today. Dana Sullivan Kilroy is a communications professional with more than 20 years of experience delivering compelling content. Her work has appeared in national, award-winning publications and sites, including: The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Fast Company, Inc.

Learn about the marketing technology tools you should be using in to optimize your output, learn better insights, and be a better marketer. In an effort to improve security and the over-all experience of email recipients, Gmail and Yahoo have implemented new requirements for bulk senders.

Learn what they are and how to stay in compliance with this quick read. Learn how you can use query string parameters in your next entry form to collect better data and engage users. Join Fine tune your campaign. Design an interactive campaign fully tailored to your brand.

Engage your traffic. Get leads. Create the perfect interactive content to pull leads in. Streamline your workload. Handle several contests and analyze their data in one place.

Discover expert tips and trends for interactive marketing success. Get quick answers to common questions about Shortstack features. Explore our seamless connections to amplify your marketing campaigns. Contact Login. Table of Contents.

Contest and Landing Page Features. First name. Thank you! Something went wrong while submitting the form. Examples of Instagram Contests that Follow the Rules Rule 1: Acknowledge that the contest is not sponsored, endorsed, or administered by, or associated with Instagram.

About the author By Dana Kilroy ・5 min read. If you are unsure about whether your free draw or prize competition is legal then you should seek legal advice. Some files may not be accessible for users of assistive technology.

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Prize competitions and free draws - The requirements of the Gambling Act We are not able to respond to comments but your feedback will help us improve our website. Do not use this form for complaints as we will not reply. If you want to complain about a gambling business or need further help please contact us.

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Hide Cookie Message. Public and players Licensees and businesses Licensing authorities About us News Contact us Services. Home Public and players Fundraising and lotteries. Guide menu. Free draws and prize competitions. The Gambling Commission does not approve free draws or prize competitions and we do not help you to develop them, although we may raise any concerns with you.

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Contest rules - Acceptance of prize constitutes permission for [your company name] to use Winner's name, likeness, and entry for purposes of advertising and trade without Information on the rules you must follow when you hold free draws and prize competitions Click on each heading below to download the relevant contest guides: · BJA Level 1 · 1st4Sport Level 2 · 1st4Sport Level 3 · MSc Advanced Sport Coaching A BJA Contest Rules Quick Reference Guide is also available which summarises the key differences in rule sets at different event levels. British

Provide information about what the winner s will receive and include the estimated retail value. Determine if you need to include information about whether or not the prize is transferable, how prizes may be substituted at your sole discretion, how acceptance of the prize grants you permission to use the Winners entry, name, and likeness for advertising, promotion, and trade without further compensation or remuneration unless prohibited by law.

Provide a statement about how the odds of winning is dependent upon the number of eligible entries received. In this section, explain how the winner will be selected random drawing, a panel of judges if a skills-based contest, etc.

under your supervision. Tell giveaway entrants how and when you plan to notify the winner. Additional considerations include 1 circumstances under which you may select an alternate winner, receipt of the prize is upon the condition of compliance with federal, state, and local laws, etc.

Here, you should explain the rights that the participant grants to you, the Sponsor, upon submission of an entry into the giveaway or contest.

Discuss your rights to disqualify anyone who violates the terms, as well as your rights to seek damages to the fullest extent permitted by law in cases where a participant has caused deliberate damage or undermined the legal operation of the promotion. This section should cover how disputes will be handled.

Carefully define how the entrant agrees, as a condition of participating in the promotion, that disputes not resolved between the participant and your company shall be individually resolved exclusively before a court located in your state, without resorting to any form of class action.

Think about verbiage that states that the entrants waive all rights to punitive, incidental, or consequential damages, and they waive all rights to have damages multiplied or increased.

Tell your participants how their information is subject to your privacy policy and where to find the privacy policy on your website.

International and even state governments within the U. have adopted privacy laws that you need to comply with when it comes to collecting consumer data.

Be sure your privacy policy complies with those laws where you plan to execute your promotion. In this section, you should directly address any rules specific to the channels where you plan to promote or administer your promotion.

For example, Facebook requires that you include the following verbiage if you plan to use Facebook to communicate or administer your contest or sweepstakes: The [Sweepstakes or Contest] hosted by [your company name] is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by, or associated with Facebook.

Wrap up your giveaway rules by explaining that by entering the contest, the entrant has affirmatively reviewed, accepted, and agreed to all of the them. We made it through the rough part. Woobox makes it easy to display your sweepstakes or contest rules with your promotional landing page.

Once you create your campaign, you can add your giveaway rules directly in Woobox. Voilà: a link to your official rules has been added to the disclaimer at the bottom. A link to your official rules will also be included with the Rules Checkbox field if you add one to your form.

Do you need some assistance? Woobox Support is available between 9 am and 5 pm PST, Monday through Friday at or support woobox. Most of the examples are from small companies or bloggers since these are the kinds of folks who tend to not have huge marketing teams to execute their ideas.

In other words, anyone could run a contest like the ones featured below. What they did right: Rachel Off Duty posted right up front that her contest wasn't associated with Instagram. She also included clear instructions for how people could enter her giveaway. She asked people to share a genuine comment which she could eventually use to learn more about the kinds of activities her followers enjoy.

What could be better: To build an email list, rather than just collect new followers, Rachel Off Duty could have offered people extra chances to win by creating a simple landing page which she linked to from her bio. She could also use ShortStack's email marketing features to confirm entries and send other emails to let her followers know about upcoming events or even when she published a new blog post.

What they did right: Westy Co. Like Rachel Off Duty, they state clearly that the contest isn't affiliated with Instagram. What they could have done better: I'm not a huge fan of contests that ask participants to tag a bunch of friends for one thing, friends might not be the right audience for the brand.

Confession: whenever I enter a "tag to enter" Instagram contest I tag my daughter -- no matter what the product is. I'm allowed to annoy her : but I don't want to annoy my friends. Instead, they could have asked people to share their own photos using Westy Co.

What they did right: The University of North Carolina, Wilmington, used a contest to collect user-generated content from a very specific community and they included every necessary detail about the entry period. What could be better: If UNCW wanted to use the UGC they collected on the school's website or in other collateral, they could have used software like ShortStack to pull all the entries into a gallery.

The image also contains a lot of copy that would probably have been better if published on a landing page. What they did right: Suezhomefaker lets participants know about entry restrictions, including age and location, and she tells them exactly when she'll announce the winner, right down to the time zone.

What could be better: In order to receive extra chances to win, Suezhomefaker asks people to repost her image and tag her and the brand whose products she's giving away. There's no easy way for her to check to see if people have actually done what she asked -- it's a manual process.

To make things easier and more useful for her, she could have awarded extra points to people who navigated to a landing page from a link in her bio and filled out a short form.

What they did right: Honestly, this Australian coffee brand -- with a modest 4, Instagram followers -- is doing so many things right! They added a link in their bio which directed people to a landing page with details about their new product.

The landing page also has a popup that requests an email address for people who want to receive their newsletter and news about special events. What could be better: The only rule "violation" I see is that they should have included their time zone for the contest end date.

What they did right: Eddie Bauer has done just about everything right, including adding details about how they determine the winner each month. They've got a very vibrant Instagram page and they've done a great job in promoting their hashtag: WhyIHike has more than 60, posts not all of them are also tagged with eddiebauer, but a large percentage seem to be.

It can be daunting to choose the right promotion for your business and to begin running it, but this guide will help you get started with running a giveaway legally in the UK. A sweepstakes. This is a free promotion that selects the winner randomly.

Participants will also be able to earn additional entries, instead of paying for them. A lottery or raffle. For this type of giveaway, participants must make a purchase to qualify for the prize. Typically, they are able to buy multiple entries, so their chances of winning will increase with further purchases.

A reward level giveaway. These may or may not require that participants pay to enter, but instead of having one winner, the prize will be made available to anyone who meets the requirements. A contest. Skills or knowledge are key here, as entrants will compete against each other, and the winner will be determined based on merit.

Promotions or giveaways that do not require a purchase are the easiest to orchestrate. This is because there are legal restrictions on lotteries, as they are considered to be a form of gambling.

To run a paid giveaway, you will need a license. Luckily, there are some ways to ensure that this does not apply to your promotion. You can make the contest free to enter. However, no license is necessary if the giveaway is free.

Turn it into a competition. If contestants earn their prize by displaying superior skills, knowledge, or instincts, then the giveaway may not be considered to be a lottery or to involve gambling.

This means that the criteria to win cannot be structured so as to keep most people from entering or winning. If a contest relies on a certain skill to win a prize, the expectations must be reasonable.

However, you can design the promotion so that the skills-based challenge merely earns participants an entry into a drawing that will determine the winner of the grand prize. This promotional setup will not require a license.

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