Why can't Rhode Island participate in contests?
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In the United States, every state establishes their own set of rules for contests. Most states have the same basic rules, so most national contests are valid. Rhode Island is unique because the state law actually requires the company to file a legal statement before it can run a contest in that state. The statute, Section 11-50-1 of Rhode Island General Laws, reads: "Any person, firm, or corporation proposing to engage in any game, contest, or other promotion or advertising scheme or plan in which a retail establishment offers the opportunity to receive gifts, prizes, or gratuities, as determined by chance, in order to promote its retail business, where the total announced value of the prizes offered to the general public is in excess of five hundred dollars ($500), must file a statement with the secretary of state." The statute then details exactly what information must be included in the filed statement. In addition, the law requires the company pay a $150 filing fee. If a company runs a contest in Rhode Island, and fails to file a statement correctly, the company is actually guilty of a criminal misdemeanor! For companies that want to run national contests, the filing fee alone means it's not really worthwhile to run the contest in Rhode Island, which has a fairly small population. When you add to that the hassle of researching Rhode Island law in order to file the statement correctly, very few national companies are going to bother. The term "retail establishment" is fairly vague, so it's not really clear if the law would apply to a non-retail Web site. It probably does, however, and for most sites, it's not worth the time to try to contact the state of Rhode Island secretary of state to find out. |
