Online free prize draw - rules?

[carolbeck]

Does anyone know what the rules/regulations etc. are for running a free prize draw online?

I'm talking a totally free-to-enter, no-purchase-required, totally random draw.

Thanks in advance!

[RichardJohn]

AFAIK you'll need a lotteries licence.

The way around this is to ask a multiple choice general knowledge question as a condition of entry. It's then a "game of skill", and shouldn't need a licence.

[carolbeck]

Hmmm ... I came across this:

"An arrangement is a simple lottery if:

persons are required to pay in order to participate in the arrangement,
in the course of the arrangement one or more prizes are allocated to one or more members of a class, and
the prizes are allocated by a process which relies wholly on chance.
A complex lottery is similar but:

the prizes are allocated by a series of processes, and
the first of those processes relies wholly on chance.
...
It follows however that if people do not need to pay to participate then the arrangement is not a lottery and the Gambling Commission (Commission) will have no regulatory responsibilities."

http://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=56064

So I'd have thought a "free to enter" prize draw wouldn't be classed as a lottery? Or am I mis-understanding this?

[RichardJohn]

It would seem not, then!

[carolbeck]

Surely free prize draws aren't TOTALLY unregulated though?? There must be some rules ... or else how would you know it's being done fairly?

I can't seem to find any info about it on Google though...