What are Sweepstakes???

Sweepstakes, Contests, and Lotteries Defined:

Sweepstakes are prize giveaways where the winners are chosen by luck. Prizes can range from stickers and t-shirts to houses, cars, and enormous cash wins.

Contests, on the other hand, draw a winner based on some merit. The person with the funniest pick-up line, most moving essay, most beautiful photograph, tastiest recipe, or whatever will be chosen as the winner.

Lotteries are prize drawings where people must pay money to buy a chance to win. Lotteries are highly regulated, and are usually only legal if they are run by the government.

The Difference Between Sweepstakes and Contests:

Many people use terms "contests" and "sweepstakes" interchangeably. Technically, however, contests are giveaways that have some element of skill to them. For example, entrants need to answer a trivia question, write an essay, or create a recipe to participate.

This rules out the second element of an illegal lottery: winners chosen by chance. This means that it is legal to charge a fee to enter contests or to have an element of consideration that is beneficial to the sponsor (i.e., a recipe that will be used in product advertising).