The Sweepstakes Wire™ - September 2002

These sweepstakes tips may not all be new, but they are the most important "rules" or "tricks" of the trade.

Follow the rules. It cannot be stressed enought that it is important to follow the official rules for the sweepstakes you are entering. If you enter multiple times in a one-time entry sweepstakes, or if you enter using multiple email addresses, you will likely be disqualified. Database "scrubs" are usually performed both before a drawing (to remove entrants who are not eligible, such as company employees and their families) and afterwards, to check if the winner followed the rules. In most drawings, alternates are chosen in case the winner is disqualified.
Enter as often as you can. If a sweepstakes allows you to enter every day, then by all means, you should enter every day! Each time you enter, you are drastically increasing your odds of winning! Think about this: If 10 people enter a sweepstakes once and you enter 10 times, you have increased your odds of winning from 1:11 to 1:2 - you now have a 50% chance of winning!
Bigger is not always better. Many people enter contests giving away cash, cars, and trips, while passing on the ones with smaller prizes. Since these smaller sweepstakes will likely have less entries, the odds of winning are usually much greater. Also, sweepstakes that have lots of restrictions will generally receive less entries. For example, if a sweepstakes is only open to households with children under a certain age, you should enter that more often than sweepstakes that are open to everyone. This should increase your odds of winning drastically.
The first drawing usually has the best odds. Many sweepstakes with weekly or monthly drawings gain momentum as the weeks or months pass. Often, during the first week or month of a sweepstakes, there hasn't been a large media push and there are generally not a lot of entrants. Also, the first few weeks will have less entrants because many of these sweepstakes have rolling entries, which means that all entrants that are not chosen will be included in the subsequent weeks/months of the sweepstakes.
Tell your friends. If a sweepstakes offers you additional entries for telling your friends, then you should tell everyone you know! If you are going to take the trouble to enter a sweepstakes in the first place, you certainly should go the extra mile to get your "free" or bonus entries! Some sweepstakes make it a little more difficult by requiring your friends to enter before awarding your sweepstakes entry. If you really want the prize, send your friend a personal email and ask them to enter.

Just remember -- while you won't win every sweepstakes you enter, if you follow these tips and enter consistently, you will greatly increase your odds of winning. Good luck!