So, your multinational food import company, Bigfood Blue White, is considering running a promotional campaign in Florida over the next few days–and possibly elsewhere later. You realize: “this won’t just be an ordinary promotion and I can’t just use the same one we’ve used everywhere else.” “This one will be a sweepstakes with the chance for big prizes!!” “This one needs a legal compliance plan executed right.”
If you’re a food import company or a consumer product company, here’s the first thing you need to know about running prize-based promotions on a nationwide scale. Prize-based promotions like sweepstakes are not governed by federal law – they are generally governed by state law. What’s more, state law is not uniform.
Florida sweepstakes law is one of the more complicated states laws on this subject so it makes sense to learn more about it now.
Especially if your company sells and/or offers sweepstakes or prizes in Florida, you’re going to want to be sure that you comply with the right laws and have the benefits of them available to you. For example, Florida law requires that you have no purchase necessary. It also requires that all winners be posted. It’s a more involved law than many other states.
Florida law requires that for a company offering a sweepstake promotion or prize, the following details be disclosed both on the entry form and the website hosting the promotion:
Some of what can go wrong may seem obvious but it’s worth stating the mostly obvious anyway:
For a company offering a sweepstake promotion or prize, virtually all efforts must or should be based around Florida law or regulations. This starts with the following:
Of course, there may be other specific requirements that you will want to follow as well (beyond those listed above) to ensure your compliance with Florida law.
The main reason to keep up on changes to promotional law is similar to the first reason we provided above – the risk of missing something important in a complicated patchwork of laws. States laws and regulations can change over time, but companies who are on top of things can plan for those changes ahead of time rather than being caught by surprise.
The second reason to keep up on changes to promotional law is because issues aren’t uniform across the state borders. The needs of your Florida business are not always the same as the needs of your business in New York, even if those business units are part of the same company. Similarly, the needs of a business in Canada are not necessarily the same as a business in the USA.
Wait. You’re a food import company and you believe that you should be able to run good prize promotions that adhere to Florida sweepstakes law and bring in a good return on investment, right?
Florida sweepstakes law compliance could help you avoid scrutiny and customer complaints. Being on top of the constantly changing state laws could provide you with another useful level of business planning. To ensure compliance, it helps to be aware of the following:
Below are some links to information about Florida sweepstakes law, generally:
For more information on promotional laws, you can visit Nolo’s guide on promotional contests.