Sweepstakes, games of chance and skill contests are a popular form of marketing with a high return on investment. New communication channels, such as the Internet, smartphones, Facebook, Twitter and SMS messaging, have increased the effectiveness of these tools and allow businesses and marketers to create highly interactive experiences for potential customers.

These next generation promotions create complicated legal issues. In addition to state lottery laws, many of these promotions raise issues under federal legislation such as the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (CAN-SPAM) and the Communications Decency Act. Non-compliance with these laws can have an adverse legal and financial impact on the promoters.

Our attorneys have experience with all types of sweepstakes, skill contests and games of chance, including those that integrate user generated content, SMS messaging, Facebook and Twitter.