How to run a sweepstakes (legally)

1. Sweepstakes administration companies

I'm not going to name any companies here, but most sweepstakes administration companies are very expensive. Some charge as much as $8,000 (per sweepstakes) just for bonding and official rules.

They usually provide:

• Official rules
• Bonding services
• AMOE handling
• Winner selection

Do I need one to write rules for me?

Probably not in most cases. What is the point of rules? Well-written official rules are there to protect you and your business. They should keep your sweepstakes transparent by covering details, dates, name, eligibility, and so on. They should also make it legally defensible and provide a clear AMOE (Alternate Method of Entry). That last part is what helps keep your sweepstakes from becoming an illegal lottery. We'll get to AMOE later.

What else do administration companies handle?

• Bonding: If the total prize value is more than $5,000 and the promotion is open to Florida or New York, state registration and financial security may be required. You do not necessarily need an administration company to handle this. When I did it myself, the total was around $400.
• AMOE: They can set up inboxes for mail in AMOE. Clean Sweeps offers mail in validation and a secure online AMOE form, depending on what your rules and legal counsel allow.
• Winner selection: They can select the winner for you, but you can also use our free winner select tool.

So, do you need a sweepstakes administration company? No. Are they ripping you off? Probably. Well, sort of. If you don't want to be bothered with writing your own rules and handling bonding, they can do that work for you. They still will NOT assume liability if you mess up while running your sweepstakes.

You are essentially paying someone a huge markup to copy and paste rules and deal with some paperwork for bonding.

2. Official rules

Why do you need official rules? Because they protect your business. Your rules should clearly state:

• Who is eligible
• Prize information
• Start dates, end dates, and deadlines
• Every entry method
• How the winner will be selected

The point is to help customers understand the promotion and reduce the risk of disputes or compliance issues.

This means that when a purchase earns entries, customers must also be able to earn entries through the AMOE described in your rules. I won't go deep into the legal details here, but read the official rules of a major sweepstakes and look at the mail in entry section and instructions for claiming specific entry promotions. You'll see what I mean.

Can you take official rules from another company and alter them to match the details for your sweepstakes? I'm not sure really, but I think it's something I would do if I wanted to run my own sweepstakes. I think I'm supposed to tell you to speak with an attourney here. Once again, these are just my opinions, not legal advice.

Abbreviated rules

These are the short rules you usually see in a website footer or advertisement. They often start with the no purchase necessary language above and point to the full official rules. Make sure the abbreviated rules for your promotion include all disclosures your attorney says are required.

3. Bonding

This is a pain point for a lot of new sweepstakes companies. Most will pay an administration company to handle bonding. Is your total prize value more than $5,000? If yes, and your sweepstakes is open to Florida or New York residents, you will need to register and bond it in those states.

Can you run a sweepstakes without bonding in Florida and New York if your prize is over $5000? One option may be to clearly exclude Florida and New York residents in both your official and abbreviated rules, but confirm that choice with your attorney (but then again i'm not here to give legal advice).

Now for the part you're probably here for: how to handle bonding in Florida and New York. Reach out to Alpha Surety and fill out the online bond application. If you speak to Ashton or Jacquelyn, tell them Brian from Clean Sweeps sent you. Alpha Surety can provide the surety bonds and power of attorney documents needed for both states. Alpha Surety also has an overnight mail service, if you need the paperwork ASAP.

Florida

1. Take the Florida paperwork Alpha Surety sent you. It will contain sticky notes showing where you need to sign and where witness signatures are required. Make sure all required signatures are included.
2. Create an account on the FDACS Consumer Compliance portal.
3. Log in, select Game Promotion Filing Application, and enter the prize, dates, and other promotion details.
4. Scan and upload the requested documents, including your official rules, signed surety bond, and power of attorney.
5. Pay the $100 filing fee and submit.
6. Watch for a confirmation email or a request for more information. Florida will usually get back to you within a few days. They will respond via email whether they need more info or if you're approved.

Florida requires promotions with more than $5,000 in prizes to file at least seven days before the start date. After the winners are finally determined, you have 60 days to send the required certified winners list. IMPORTANT: DO NOT FORGET THIS! They will come after you and fine you lol. I have a client that got fined by Florida because their winner list was 1 day late (really).

Double-check the current requirements on the official Florida game promotions page.

New York

New York is annoying because there is no online filing portal, so you need to use snail mail.

1. Complete and sign the bond that your surety company sends you. This paperwork NEEDS TO BE NOTARIZED. New York will kick back your application if you are missing signatures or notarization.
2. Fill out the official Games of Chance Registration.
3. Write a $100 check payable to NYS Department of State.
4. Put your registration, official rules, surety bond, and check in one envelope.
5. Mail it to the longest address in the universe:
   New York Department of State
   Division of Corporations, State Records and Uniform Commercial Code
   State Records Bureau
   One Commerce Plaza
   99 Washington Avenue
   Albany, NY 12231

   *** This address really grinds my gears, because it's so long that if you wanted to print a shipping label, there is no template on USPS, UPS or FEDEX available that can handle an address this long. So you are are forced to snail mail it. If you find a way around this, please let me know so I can update this guide

6. New York will send a filing receipt or contact you if something needs to be corrected.

New York requires a Certification of Winners within 90 days after the promotion ends. It must list each winner of a prize worth more than $25 and the required prize and delivery details. I'm not saying this, but allegedly, NY is FAR less strict than FL about the winners list and doesn't really seemt to care if you send it or not (allegedly). Send the list.

Double-check the current forms and requirements on the official New York Games of Chance page.

Once you have received confirmation from both states, you are bonded for your sweepstakes! DO NOT ALTER YOUR RULES WITHOUT CONSULTING AN ATTOURNEY. Your official rules are now bonded.

4. AMOE

AMOE is the “no purchase necessary” piece of your rules. Most companies use snail mail. You can require customers to fill out an envelope and mail it to you, then provide entries based on that mail-in and your official rules.

Your AMOE must be:

• Real
• Easy to find
• Fair
• Actually working

Regulators may test it. If the AMOE is broken, hidden, or unfair, the promotion could be challenged as an illegal lottery.

Entry promotions and your AMOE

In order to make the statement “No purchase necessary to enter or win. A purchase will not increase your chances of winning.” valid, your AMOE must provide the same entry promotions that are available on your website, such as a 10x entry promotion.

You can do this by allowing entrants to handwrite promotions onto the AMOE card or by using the promotion fields in the Clean Sweeps AMOE form.

See major sweepstakes company rules for examples of how this is written into the official rules.

Lucky for you, we have an answer. Clean Sweeps provides an online form if you don't want to deal only with mail ins, plus an online form with mail in validation. Read about the AMOE tools on our features page to see how we handle this headache for you, then confirm the method in your official rules with counsel.

5. Setting up your website and entry displays

Clean Sweeps handles everything for you regarding sweepstakes entries: bonus spending entries, entry promotions, discount code entries, and affiliate link entries. Whatever you can think of, we can probably do it.

1. Install the Clean Sweeps app.
2. Follow the setup guides.
3. Turn on the widgets that show customers their entries.

Custom displays connected to our API

For custom displays connected to our API, see the API documentation and the entry display guide.

If you see a cool custom display and want us to build it for you, reach out for pricing on custom dev work.

6. Marketing (this is the entire business)

I could write an entire book on this piece. If you're a Diamond subscriber and want some free marketing consulting, please reach out and ask for Brian or Kent.

This is actually free. We want your sweepstakes to do well. If it does well, you will stay subscribed to Clean Sweeps. That is a win for everyone.