Can A Sweepstakes Promotion Not Have A Winner?

Question

There is already a similar question on this platform and it covers "Running any game of chance with no intent of showing or awarding winner has legal consequences called fraud, at very least. It's in the law for each state." But can I run a game of chance with the intent of showing and awarding a winner, where there is still a possibility that no one wins?

Let's say I was running a promotion and I marketed that each entry has an estimated odds of 1 in 5000. When you enter into the promotion, you receive a ticket with a number between 1 and 5000. When it comes tome to choose who won the promotion, a random number between 1 and 5000 is generated and whoever has a ticket that matches the generated number wins the promotion. Now let's say that 5000 entries were not submitted to that promotion and the random number that was generated does not correspond to a ticket that had been purchased. In that case, no one would have won that promotion.

If I were transparent about that being the method used to choose winners, would it be legal? or do I have to ensure that there is always a winner of the promotion (e.g. choosing only out of the tickets that were entered)? And is it legal to enter into your own promotion (e.g. you fill what falls short of 5000 entries with your own entries)?

Answer 1

A sweepstakes without a winner would be fraud. A sweepstakes is defined as there being a prize.

1 in 5000 odds is an estimated chance of winning, it means you expect 5000 entries. Deciding to not pay out because you have "extra" numbers you can select is unethical and almost certainly illegal. In the US, sweepstakes like this are regulated by states, and the one you're in would be unimpressed with your scheme. In my state, sweepstakes are covered by specific laws, upheld by regulation by the state Attorney General.

I want to back up and clarify terms. A sweepstakes is a thing where if people enter, then a sweepstakes winner is selected from those who entered. This might be a "game of chance" but someone must always win. Doing something else (like a Lotto or scratch-off game) is gambling and will be legislated and regulated on a much tighter basis. If it is a sweepstakes, someone has to win, and that someone cannot be the operator.

Schemes like this have almost certainly been tried before and have been regulated out because people don't like being scammed.