Every US sweepstakes carries the same small-print line, “No purchase necessary,” because without it the promotion would legally be a lottery. American law treats a game as gambling when it combines three things: a prize, chance and consideration, meaning something of value paid to play. A sweepstakes keeps the prize and the chance, so it has to drop the payment.
Why the words got longer
Older promotions sometimes printed only “no purchase necessary to enter,” leaving room to suggest that buying helped a player win. That gap is why modern rules usually carry both phrases, “No purchase necessary to enter or win” and “A purchase will not increase your chances of winning.”
The free route is often deliberately low-tech. When McDonald’s ran its Monopoly game-piece promotion, free game pieces were available on request by US mail to satisfy the requirement. Before home computers, a plain 3-by-5-inch index card with a name and address was the classic free entry.
Not every country works this way. In Canada, Australia and several European countries, entrants may have to answer a skill-testing question, often a simple math problem, so the draw is not classed as gambling. In Australia, unlike in the US, a trade promotion can even require a purchase.
What the statute says
Federal postal law spells it out. Under 39 U.S. Code § 3001, a sweepstakes is defined as “a game of chance for which no consideration is required to enter.” The same section, added by the Deceptive Mail Prevention and Enforcement Act of 1999, lists what mailed sweepstakes materials must say, and mailings that break the rules count as nonmailable matter.
Two sentences the law demands
For entry materials sent by mail, the statute requires a statement in the mailing, in the rules and on the entry form that no purchase is necessary to enter, and a second statement that a purchase will not improve the entrant’s chances of winning. Those two disclosures must be displayed more conspicuously than the rest of the required notices.
The rules themselves must also give:
- the estimated odds of winning each prize;
- the quantity, estimated retail value and nature of each prize;
- the schedule of any payments made over time, such as an annuity;
- the sponsor’s name and a business address where it can be contacted.
The law also bans a few old tricks. A mailing cannot tell someone they have won unless they have, cannot hint that people who skip a purchase may be dropped from future mailings, and cannot require an entry to arrive with an order or payment. Any fake check in the envelope must say on its face that it is not negotiable and has no cash value. The Federal Trade Commission sums up the result for consumers in plain words: real sweepstakes are free and by chance, and asking people to pay or buy something to enter, or to improve their odds, is illegal.
Skill contests play by different rules
Take away chance and the math changes. A skill contest, where the outcome depends mainly on the entrant’s skill, can charge an entry fee. Mailed skill contests still face disclosure rules: the number of rounds, the cost of each, the maximum cost to enter all rounds and the share of past entrants who solved the puzzle. The FTC warns that pay-per-round contests can get harder and pricier each round.
One more rule protects winners: the FTC says real prizes are free, and anyone told to pay “taxes,” “processing fees” or shipping before collecting a prize is dealing with a scam. Reports go to ReportFraud.ftc.gov, or to the US Postal Inspection Service if the offer came by mail.
For more on how big brands’ promotions and menus evolved, read how McDonald’s tested a fried roast beef sandwich in 1968, and browse more odd rules and records in our Offbeat section.
Further reading
Image: Willem van de Poll, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by our Editorial Desk. How we work.
