Guide

Running a Prize Draw at a Trade Show Legally

Q: What should be on our printed rules card at the booth?

No purchase necessary language, how the winner is chosen and the odds if it's a drawing, eligibility restrictions, an accurate prize description, and the close date and notification method.

4 min read·Updated August 2026

Quick answer

A legal trade show prize draw needs a clear 'no purchase necessary' entry path, posted official rules disclosing how a winner is chosen and the odds, and — for higher-value prizes — awareness that some states require registering and bonding the promotion in advance. This is general information, not legal advice.

A booth giveaway feels like a small, low-stakes marketing tactic, and for most branded merchandise or discount-code prizes, it is. But 'sweepstakes law' is real, federally enforced, and has state-level wrinkles that occasionally trip up exhibitors who assumed a giveaway was too small to need rules.

This covers the basics every exhibitor running a prize draw should know before the show, not a substitute for actual legal advice — for anything beyond a modest branded prize, talk to counsel before you print the rules.

The rule that matters most: no purchase necessary

Under U.S. federal law, a promotion cannot require a purchase or payment as a condition of entering or winning — doing so risks the promotion being treated as an illegal lottery rather than a legal sweepstakes (FTC, Lottery & Sweepstakes). At a trade show booth this usually is not an issue, since entry is typically free (play a game, scan a badge, hand over an email) — but if your entry mechanic ever requires buying something, you need a free alternate method of entry offering the same odds, not just a footnote.

Official rules: what to post at the booth

Post the material terms where entrants can actually read them — a card at the booth, a linked page from the QR code, or both:

'No purchase necessary to enter or win', stated clearly, not buried.
How the winner is chosen — random drawing, highest score, or another disclosed method — and the odds, if it is a chance-based drawing.
Eligibility restrictions — age, geography, employer exclusions if relevant.
The nature and value of the prize, described accurately.
A close date and how winners are notified.

A one-paragraph rules card next to the booth signage covers most of this for a modest giveaway; a QR-linked full rules page is easy to add if your game already generates a QR code, per QR code games for conferences.

When you actually need to register the promotion

Most branded-merchandise or discount-code booth giveaways sit well under the thresholds that trigger state registration. But a few states set a specific bar: Florida and New York require sponsors to register and bond a promotion once the aggregate prize value exceeds $5,000, and Rhode Island requires registration (though not bonding) once aggregate prize value exceeds $500 for promotions run through a physical location (Klein Moynihan Turco, sweepstakes registration and bonding requirements). If your booth prize is a single high-value item — a laptop, a flight, cash — check these thresholds and the filing deadlines well before the show; Florida in particular wants final paperwork filed a minimum of several business days ahead of the promotion start.

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Where exhibitors most often get this wrong

Framing the prize as guaranteed when it is actually a drawing — 'everyone who plays wins' language when only a top scorer actually gets a prize is a misleading-claims problem, separate from the registration question.
Gating a real prize behind a purchase, even indirectly — e.g. requiring a demo booking that also happens to be a sales pitch is usually fine, but requiring a purchase or deposit is not.
Skipping the odds disclosure on a random drawing because the booth rules card felt like overkill for a small giveaway — the disclosure requirement does not scale down with prize size.
Not checking the specific show venue's own rules — some venues have their own promotional-activity policies layered on top of state law.

Keeping it simple for a modest booth prize

For the common case — a branded item, gift card, or discount code given to a leaderboard top scorer or random drawing entrant — a clear 'no purchase necessary,' a short posted rules card, and honest odds language covers the practical basics for most shows. Anything at or above the $5,000 (FL/NY) or $500 (RI, physical-location) aggregate thresholds, or anything involving cash, travel, or a single high-value item, is worth a short call to counsel before the show, not after. See adgamify for events for how prize thresholds are configured in the game itself.

Frequently asked questions

Is this legal advice?

No — this is general information about common requirements, not a substitute for advice from a lawyer familiar with promotions law and your specific states and prize values.

Do we need "no purchase necessary" if our giveaway is free to enter anyway?

Yes, state it explicitly even when entry is already free — it's a required disclosure, not just a fallback for paid-entry promotions, and its absence can itself be flagged even on a genuinely free giveaway.

At what prize value do we need to register with a state?

Florida and New York require registration and bonding once aggregate prize value exceeds $5,000; Rhode Island requires registration (no bonding) above $500 for promotions run through a physical location. Most modest booth giveaways fall under both thresholds.

Can we require a badge scan or email to enter a prize draw?

Generally yes — requiring contact information, not a purchase, is standard and not what 'no purchase necessary' rules prohibit. The restriction is on requiring payment or a purchase, not on requiring an entry method at all.

What should be on our printed rules card at the booth?

No-purchase-necessary language, how the winner is chosen and the odds if it's a drawing, eligibility restrictions, an accurate prize description, and the close date and notification method.

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