At some point or another, you have seen different contests known as sweepstakes offeredon Television, in the mail, or over the radio. For those that are a little confused on whatsweepstakes are, they are contests of chance that are held by companies, usually with thepurpose of either promoting their company or a product.
Before we continue, it should be pointed out that by a “game of chance”, we are notreferring to something like casino slots where you must risk money in order to win aprize. Most sweepstakes are done either by mail or some type of online submission.There are some sweepstakes that are connected to buying a particular product, but eventhose usually have an alternate method of entry, such as postal mail.
Prizes that are available in sweepstakes cover a broad range. Some sweepstakes offeronly a grand prize, which can be anything from a particular sum of money to a trip to aluxurious destination. Some sweepstakes offer multiple prizes and even tier-based prizes.For example, some sweepstakes may offer gift cards or small denomination prizes to a setnumber of participants. They may then offer a larger prize to yet another set of players,and finally the grand prize would be awarded to the overall winner.
Unlike casino based gambling, sweepstakes offer contestants the chance to win cash andprizes without any risk to them. In return, the companies running the contests get a formof mass advertising that typically helps to either drive sales of products or get their nameout into the public in a meaningful way. If you have never entered a sweepstakes, lookaround for one that interests you and enter. You can win if you don’t play.
