The Series:  Discover POWERFUL secrets the sweepstake companies don't want you to know! 

As Managing Director of MyFreeSweeps.com I find that we continually get emails from our members asking such questions as "Are there any tips you could give me?" or "What legislation is out there to protect me?" so we did a little research to see just what type of information there was for the average sweepstake hobbiest. We couldn't believe with the millions of dollars in cash and prizes that are continually given away through online sweepstakes there wasn't a multitude of free sweepstake information for the sweepstake hobbiest to read. What an embarrassment! So we decided to do something about it. We put together a quick information booklet for you called "Sweepstake Secrets Revealed" and decided to submit it through different article directories as a series so you can get the information whenever you want. The idea now is to put together a 15-20 week series that you can follow along to and be well armed the next time you enter a sweepstake.

With all of that in mind lets go to the first question in our series:

Definition: What is a sweepstake? Sweepstakes (also called prize promotions or games of chance) are popular tools for businesses, marketers, and agencies to build customer loyalty and collect valuable demographic information about potential consumers.

A Sweepstakes Overview

A sweepstakes is a promotion in which a prize is awarded to a participant on the basis of chance, not skill. That prize can be monetary or non-monetary, such as a free product or trip. The sweepstakes sponsor cannot require people to purchase a product or to invest "considerable" time or effort in order to enter the sweepstakes.

Here are some basic rules that all sweepstake sponsors must comply with:
1) All sweepstakes must have official rules and those rules CANNOT change once the sweepstakes has begun.
2) Official rules must contain the following kinds of information:
3) A "No purchase is necessary" statement
4) Start and end dates
5) Eligibility requirements (age, residency, and a list of those excluded from participating)
6) Methods by which people can enter the sweepstakes, including a "no purchase" method, such as a 3" x 5" postcard
7) Any limitations on the number of entries per person or household
8) The odds of winning
9) A description of the prize(s) and the monetary value
10) How the winner(s) will be selected and notified
11) Restrictions on receiving the prize(s)
12) The sponsor's name and address

*These are only the most basic considerations. Your sweepstakes will also be subject to federal and state laws, which can vary greatly.

Join the Masses!

Question:

Generally, how many people enter a single sweepstake in the United States? In Canada?

Answer:

We researched a lot of different web sites to see what we could find on this area, but couldn't really come back with any hard and fast numbers for you. We can tell you though that it is estimated that over 55 million Americans enter the Reader's Digest sweepstakes each year.[1] Can you believe that? 55 million people. That is amazing! With the US population at 298,444,215 that is almost 20% of the entire US population. And if we consider that only 75% of the population is over the age of 18 then that would mean that roughly 225,000,000 people are of the age of majority and are legally allowed to enter sweepstakes. Take those numbers into consideration and you are looking at 25% of the population of the United States likes to enter sweepstakes. That number is mind-boggling.

What about Canada you ask? Do Canadians like to enter sweepstakes just like their neighbors to the south? Well lets make some assumptions there. Lets say that 20% of the population of Canada (32,887,771) enters the Reader's Digest each year. [2] That would equal 6,565,576 people. Now consider the population of people over the age of 18 in Canada is around 72% and we come up with 4,727,214 people

Stay tuned next week as we follow through more questions and answers in our "Sweepstake Secrets Revealed" information booklet.

If you don't have time to follow the series, or if you want all of the information today, just go to SweepstakeSecretsRevealed.com. Download it FREE today!

Best of luck with all your future sweepstake entries.

Randy Norton
Managing Director
Vital Media Inc.
http://www.myfreesweeps.com/
http://www.myfreesweeps.com/
"With MyFreeSweeps.com ENTERING TO WIN has never been easier"

[1] As reported by http://www.dmaconsumers.org/olderconsumers.html

[2] As reported on http://www.statcan.ca/english/edu/clock/population.htm