Sweepstakes Glossary: Official Rules Terms in Plain English

Official rules reuse the same few dozen legal and tax words. This glossary explains them in plain English. The groups follow the order you meet them in the rules. First comes the type of promotion and who runs it, then dates and entry limits, then winners, prize value and the forms a winner signs. Where a term carries a legal, tax or number meaning, the entry names its source. Examples come from real official rules and only show how one sponsor wrote it. Reviewed 11/14/2026.

Words that decide what kind of promotion it is

Three things make a lottery: a prize, chance and payment. Take away the payment and you get a sweepstakes. Take away the chance, so that skill decides, and you get a contest. Our guide on sweepstakes, contests and lotteries sets them side by side.

• Sweepstakes: A prize promotion where luck picks the winner and nobody has to pay to enter. Federal postal law defines it as "a game of chance for which no consideration is required to enter." The DC Attorney General says the same in fewer words: "Sweepstakes are free games of chance."
• Giveaway: An everyday word, not a legal category. Straight Talk calls its car drawing a giveaway, and its odds depend on the number of entries, so it works as a sweepstakes. Meta lists "a contest, giveaway, or sweepstakes" as three kinds of promotion. On GiveawayShark both words mean the same thing. The official rules show which type you are dealing with.
• Lottery: The USPS defines a lottery as a promotion "where a prize is offered based on lot or chance and requires payment for participation." The definition applies "regardless of state legality." Prize, chance and payment all have to be there.
• Chance: The luck element. A random drawing or a computer-picked winning time is chance. If nothing you do can change the result, chance decides it.
• Consideration: The legal word for what you give up to take part, usually money or a purchase. A USPS ruling puts it this way: "consideration is eliminated if persons may enter without payment of a fee." That free path is the reason sweepstakes print "no purchase necessary."
• Skill contest: A contest where ability decides, not luck. In its mailing rules, the same federal law describes a contest where "the outcome depends predominately on the skill of the contestant." That legal definition is narrow: it only covers contests that require, or seem to require, a purchase, payment or donation to enter. Free contests work the same way, because ability decides, not luck. Photo, essay and video contests belong here, see photo and video contests.
• Instant win: A game that tells you on the spot whether you won. Cupcake Vineyards ran one with "random, computer-generated winning times," where the first player at or after each time became a potential winner. A win screen is not the final word. Those rules say no one is a winner until eligibility and the winning play are verified. More in instant win games explained.

Who runs the promotion and who may enter

These terms tell you whose promotion it is and whether your entry can count at all.

• Official rules: The binding terms of the promotion. They set eligibility, dates, prizes, odds and how winners are picked. Meta tells page owners who run a promotion to provide "entrants a copy of the promotion's official rules." If an ad and the rules disagree, go by the rules. Our guide on how to read official rules walks through them section by section.
• Sponsor: The company that offers the prize and answers for the promotion. The rules name it, often with an address. The Xbox rules say the sweepstakes "is sponsored by Microsoft Corporation." A brand on the prize is not automatically the sponsor. The Straight Talk rules state that Ford is not a sponsor of their Mustang giveaway.
• Administrator: The agency that runs entries, drawings and winner contact for the sponsor. The Xbox sweepstakes "is administered by GMR Marketing LLC." Coca-Cola names Don Jagoda Associates, Inc. A winner email may come from the administrator, so match its name against the rules.
• Eligibility: Who may enter and win. It covers age, place of residence and excluded groups such as the sponsor's employees. Coca-Cola's promotion was open to "legal residents of the 50 U.S. and D.C." who were 18 or older. See age and eligibility rules.
• Legal resident: Someone whose legal home is in the area the rules name. Some rules add a second condition. The Xbox rules also require entrants to be "physically located" in the 50 states, DC or Puerto Rico when they enter.
• Household: The people who live at one address. Rules use it in two places. Nintendo excluded employees' household members "whether or not related." Pepsi capped wins at one prize per person, email address or household.
• Void where prohibited: A phrase in the rules, not a term any agency defines. It means the promotion is not valid where the law forbids it. Read it next to the list of places the rules name. Coca-Cola wrote "Void outside the Eligibility Area and where prohibited by law," and Cupcake Vineyards wrote "Void in Puerto Rico." Why states get left out is covered in why some sweepstakes exclude your state.

Dates, clocks and how often you can enter

A missed hour or a second email address can cost an entry. These terms set the limits.

• Entry period: The window in which entries count. Coca-Cola's ran from 9:30 AM ET on 08/24/2026 to 11:59 PM ET on 11/01/2026. Some periods are split. PCH ran weekly periods, and entries did not carry over to the next week.
• Entry deadline: The last moment an entry is accepted. Mail-in entries can have two. Coca-Cola's mailed entries had to be "postmarked by November 2, 2026 and received by November 9, 2026." Pepsi's rules point to "multiple entry deadlines" inside one sweepstakes.
• Time zone: The zone the rules' times refer to. The Xbox rules use Pacific Time, Ramsey uses Central Time. 11:59 PM PT comes three hours after 11:59 PM ET. Salesforce named its own computer as "the official clock" for its sweepstakes.
• Entry limit: How often you may enter, in the rules' own unit. Pepsi allowed one entry per person, email address and mailing address per day, with the day counted in Pacific Time. The Saints rules void entries over the limit. Tips for daily entries are in how to stay organized.
• Bonus entries: Extra entries for an extra action, such as watching ads, buying something or sharing. The PCH rules treat entries from ads, games, purchases and the free method equally, "subject to any maximum entry limits." Meta does not let promotions on its pages require or reward sharing and tagging. Travel Guard gave no extra entries for sharing. Platform rules are in social media giveaways.
• AMOE, or free method of entry: Short for alternate method of entry. It is the free way in when the main route involves a purchase, ads or a product code. PCH calls it a "Free Alternate Method of Entry" with the same chance as any other entry. Coca-Cola accepted a hand-printed 3x5 index card by mail. The DC Attorney General states that requiring payment to enter is illegal. See no purchase necessary and AMOE.

Odds, drawings and the people who win

Most rules describe odds in one sentence and the winner process in several paragraphs.

• Odds of winning: The rules' statement of your chances. It usually reads like the Xbox version: odds "depend on the number of eligible entries received." Instant win odds also depend on timing and the prizes still left. Coca-Cola stated that online and mailed plays had the same odds. Our guide on how sweepstakes odds work explains why a percentage is rare.
• Potential winner: Someone drawn but not yet confirmed. They still have to answer, prove eligibility and return documents. Pepsi gave potential winners 72 hours to respond. The steps that follow are in what happens after you win.
• Alternate winner: The next person drawn when a potential winner drops out. Coca-Cola allowed "up to three (3) alternates." The Xbox rules made five attempts to award the prize, then left it unawarded.
• Forfeiture: Losing a prize by missing a condition. Pepsi listed the triggers: an undeliverable notice, no confirmation within 72 hours, or late documents. Cupcake Vineyards cash payments had to be claimed within 30 days. Declining a prize is your own choice, and the IRS says a refused prize is not income. See declining or forfeiting a prize.
• Judging criteria: The scoring rules of a skill contest. Nationwide scored photos on four criteria at 25% each. GoDaddy weighted five criteria, with the business story counting most at 30%.
• Winners list: The names a sponsor publishes or sends on request. Ramsey asked for a self-addressed, stamped envelope and ignored requests sent more than 30 days after entries closed. Microsoft promised to show the Xbox winner online for at least 30 days.

Prize value and changes to the prize

The number printed in the rules is an estimate, and the prize itself can change.

• ARV: Approximate retail value, the sponsor's own estimate of the prize at retail. The Xbox rules gave an ARV of $799.99 and said any difference from the actual value "will not be awarded." For sweepstakes sent by mail, federal law requires rules that state the "estimated retail value" of each prize.
• Fair market value: The value the IRS uses for prizes that are not cash. IRS Publication 525 defines it as the price at which an item "would change hands between a willing buyer and a willing seller." Prizes in goods or services count as income at that value. ARV and fair market value can differ, as covered in sweepstakes taxes and deadlines.
• Prize substitution: The sponsor's right to swap a prize. The Xbox rules allow a replacement "of comparable or greater value" at the sponsor's discretion, while the winner may not trade the prize for cash. PCH reserved the right to pay merchandise prizes in cash at the stated value.

Paperwork between the drawing and the prize

Most big prizes come with forms. Read each one before you sign it.

• Affidavit of eligibility: A signed statement, sometimes notarized, that you meet the rules. Sony Pictures asked its grand prize winner to return one with a W-9 within five business days. The Straight Talk car rules required a notarized affidavit. Details are in affidavit of eligibility and release.
• Liability release: Your promise not to hold the sponsor and its partners responsible for harm linked to the prize. The Straight Talk affidavit releases the "Released Parties" from any liability. Coca-Cola's trip prize also required the travel companion to sign a release before departure.
• Publicity release: Permission to use your name and likeness in advertising. Nationwide's rules grant that permission "without further compensation to the entrant, unless prohibited by law." Coca-Cola asks for one "except where prohibited."
• License grant: In contests where you submit a photo, video or story, the rights you hand over to your entry. GoDaddy took "a nonexclusive, worldwide, perpetual, royalty-free right and license" to entry materials. Travel Guard's grant was "unlimited, worldwide, perpetual." Read it before you upload work you care about.

Tax terms on winner forms

These are IRS terms. This glossary explains them but cannot give tax advice for your case.

• 1099-MISC: The form sponsors use for sweepstakes prizes. IRS instructions tell payers to include "amounts paid to a winner of a sweepstakes not involving a wager" in box 3. The reporting threshold was $600 for payments made before 2026. For payments made in 2026 it is $2,000. A smaller prize is still income: IRS Publication 525 uses a $50 prize as its example. The full picture is in sweepstakes taxes and deadlines.
• W-9: The IRS form you use "to provide your correct Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN)." The form's instructions say that for individuals this is generally the Social Security number. Send it only to a sponsor you can match to a sweepstakes you entered, because fake winner messages ask for the same data. See sweepstakes scams.
• Backup withholding: A flat 24% the payer must withhold when you do not give your TIN in the required manner, according to IRS Topic 307. It is usually triggered by a missing or wrong TIN, not by winning itself.
• W-2G: The IRS form "to report gambling winnings and any federal income tax withheld on those winnings." The 1099-MISC instructions draw the line: "If a wager is made, report the winnings on Form W-2G." A free sweepstakes has no wager, so a reportable prize goes on Form 1099-MISC.