Sweeps

ONLINE GAMING & SWEEPSTAKES

The myriad of statutes and regulations governing online gaming and sweepstakes are littered with potential pitfalls. Taking into account our social media-driven advertising world, and the compliance requirements become even more murky. Avaxsys has represented promoters of online gaming and sweepstakes enterprises for years, guiding each client to create a regulatory framework that keeps their operations on the right side of the law.

Recently, online gaming became the purview of a minority of states that have legalized wagering as well as traditional Native American lands, whereas for years sweepstakes have been governed in each state by a patchwork of varying regulation. Under either scenario, promoters of online gaming and sweepstakes programs face severe civil - and even criminal, penalties for failure to comply with often-times grey areas of the law. This includes such predominant issues such as licensing and registration, but also includes more arcane elements of law including filing official rules, posting bonds and filing winners' lists.

Moreover, in today's advertising and marketing environment, social media rules the day, and in turn often times raises the specter of FTC intervention. For example, the FTC has warned companies that exchanging social media “Likes” for contest entries creates additional disclosure requirements under the FTC’s consumer protection laws. The online gaming and sweepstakes experts at Avaxsys can advise you on the intricacies of maintaining a compliant operation, including:

Licensing, including state license applications; representation before state and tribal gaming authorities; drafting and negotiation of gaming management contracts and collateral documents.

Competition Design, including drafting competition criteria; drafting disclaimers, disclosures and user agreements; and developing "void where prohibited" criteria

Representation, including responding to state and FTC investigations; and state and FTC litigation.