| Ask The Expert
(Originally posted Nov. 2002 issue)
Is there
any real chance that you would actually get a grand prize winning
game piece if you mail in an SASE on a sweepstakes which distributes
game pieces on the sponsor's product ?
It seems to me that if the sponsor is legitimately making sure
that the winning piece is actually distributed, he would either
have to put it in one of the product packages or make sure it was
given out in the first few weeks to a SASE entrant.
No one knows how many SASE game piece requests will come in so
they will either have leftovers when the sweepstakes closes or if
they print too few, they'll have to print more gamepieces to meet
the need. They won't print additional grand prize pieces. -- Dan
O.
Your question is very good,
but let me just clear one thing up - the game pieces that are distributed
on a sponsor's products are not considered a "sweepstakes".
What you are referring to is an instant-win game. The difference
between a sweepstakes and an instant-win game is that the odds for
a sweepstakes are unknown (dependent upon entries) whereas the odds
for an instant-win game are known (dependent upon number of game
pieces printed). A sponsor can hold an instant-win game/sweepstakes,
but they are still two distinct parts of a promotion.
Anyway, to answer your question, YES, your chance of receiving
a winning game piece if you mail in an SASE should be EXACTLY the
same as your chance of obtaining a winning piece on a product. Legitimate
promotions which are sponsored by large companies have to send their
rules through lawyers and if the total prize value exceeds $5,000,
the sweepstakes must be also be bonded. A promotion that did not
have a legitimate means of randomly distributing the game pieces
would not hold up to this kind of scrutiny.
I would have to read the rules of a specific promotion in order
to determine how the winning game pieces are handled for that promotion,
but I would venture a guess that a set amount of winning game pieces
are printed and then randomly distributed among the entire prize
pool (products and separate pieces for mail-ins). It would change
the odds if they printed additional game pieces, so they would not
do that. Once they run out of separate game pieces, they would send
a "sorry" letter; however, if they have prizes left over,
they may hold a second chance sweepstakes to award unclaimed prizes.
What concerns me is that
some "instant win" games do not have a second chance drawing
and their rules state something like that unclaimed prizes will
not be awarded. So if a winning game piece is in the "left
over" SASE pile, it doesn't get paid out. The more left over
game pieces that are printed (intentionally?), the less chance the
sponsor will have to pay out the big prize. -- Dan O.
Yes, it is true that some
sponsors do not necessarily want to award all of the prizes. In
that case, they can legally state that unclaimed prizes will not
be awarded AND they can make the odds so astronomical that they
have a chance of not awarding all prizes. I have personally witnessed
both scenarios, where the sponsor wanted to ensure that all prizes
where awarded (we actually had several "second" chance
drawings) and another where the sponsor wanted to ensure so badly
that the 1,000,000 prize was not awarded that they had a bonus round
in which you had to qualify by being the one of the first 1,000
entrants, then being chosen in a drawing, then they had to choose
a 6 digit number and match one randomly selected from a computer.
The odds ended up being 1 in billions and billions.
It has been my experience that most sponsors do WANT to give away
the prize and even get excited about the impending drawings. My
best advice is to read the rules to find out if a game is worth
playing.
You mention second chance
drawings. If the sponsor of a instant win game didn't advertise
a 2nd chance drawing when the rules were published, there won't
be any 2nd chance entries to draw from. So a game which doesn't
list a 2nd chance option would seem to indicate the sponsor is less
dedicated to seeing that someone wins the prize. -- Dan O.
It is true that if the 2nd
chance drawing is not mentioned in the rules, it is very unlikely
that one will be held. I am not sure what it would indicate about
the sponsor's dedication to awarding the prizes. I think this is
something I may need to research further.
Do you have a question for our expert? Send an
email to us at: editor@sweepstakes.bz.
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