Article
7 mins read
Updated on 25 May 2026
Our subject expert
Emily Sadler
Senior Solicitor - Commercial
Promotions and giveaways can be powerful marketing tools for audience growth and brand engagement. In the UK, a promotion that is based purely on chance and requires payment to enter may be treated as a form of gambling under the Gambling Act 2005.
Whether you are offering a luxury weekend away for newsletter sign-ups or a giveaway promoted by an influencer, creative campaigns can raise issues around gambling laws, advertising rules and data protection if they are not structured properly.
Our promotional terms and conditions support help businesses run engaging, compliant, and brand-safe promotions, from correctly structuring prize competitions to advising on GDPR and influencer agreements.
Promotions and giveaways can be powerful marketing tools for audience growth and brand engagement. In the UK, a promotion that is based purely on chance and requires payment to enter may be treated as a form of gambling under the Gambling Act 2005.
Whether you are offering a luxury weekend away for newsletter sign-ups or a giveaway promoted by an influencer, creative campaigns can raise issues around gambling laws, advertising rules and data protection if they are not structured properly.
Our commercial law solicitors help businesses run engaging, compliant, and brand-safe promotions, from correctly structuring prize competitions to advising on GDPR and influencer agreements.
The difference is important because it affects whether your promotion can be run lawfully without a gambling licence.
For businesses, the key issue is getting the structure right from the start, especially where people pay to enter or the skill question is minimal.
The Gambling Act 2005 is the main legislation governing gambling in Britain. It applies to lotteries, betting (which can include certain prize competitions) and gaming (namely, playing a game of chance for a prize).
The Gambling Act requires you to have operating licences in place if your competition falls within the definition of a lottery, betting or gaming. Failure to have such a licence can result in fines, potential imprisonment and significant brand and reputation damage.
Importantly, skill competitions and free prize draws will fall outside the scope of the Gambling Act if they either:
How do you structure a competition to satisfy the ‘skill’ test?
For the skill test to be met, you must have a reasonable expectation that the skill, judgment or knowledge required to enter the competition will either:
The level of skill or knowledge required will vary, depending on the target market.
If questions are too easy and do not deter a significant proportion of potential participants, or eliminate a significant proportion of entrants, the skill test will not be satisfied. You must either increase the skill level of the test (keeping records of why you believe the skill test is met) or ensure that the competition is free to enter.
If a competition fails the skill test, it can still fall outside the remit of the Gambling Act if either:
The Gambling Act states that ‘payment’ includes paying money (or money's worth), as well as paying more for something in order to enter the competition, which captures calls to premium rate telephone numbers and paying more for a promotional product versus a non-promotional product.
Even if there is a paid route to enter, a competition will be treated as free to enter if there is an alternative free entry route, provided that:
If you are not sure that your competition satisfies the skills test, you can ensure that it falls outside the scope of the Gambling Act by making it free to enter or if you do require payment, by having an alternative and well-publicised free entry route.
The UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising and Direct & Promotional Marketing applies to non-broadcast advertisements, sales promotions and direct marketing communications and must be complied with when running prize promotions.
The CAP Code generally requires advertising to be legal, decent, honest and truthful. In addition, it requires certain practical information to be clearly given to consumers before or at the time of entry into prize promotions. This information includes things such as the start and closing dates of the competition, details of how to participate, how winners will be notified and results announced.
You will collect personal data through competitions and prize giveaways, and you must comply with the relevant data protection regulations in doing so. You may wish to use that personal data for direct marketing through, for example, regular newsletters and other customer incentives, which can be an additional benefit of running a competition. Legal advice should be sought into what, if any, additional consent requirements are needed when running the competition, in order to be able to use the data collected for direct marketing purposes.
Where a competition is used to encourage sign-ups to a subscription, membership or recurring service, the promotion terms should sit alongside clear customer contract terms. Businesses should also review their auto-renewal terms in consumer contracts so customers understand when charges apply, how renewals work and how they can cancel.
Once a competition has launched, changing the closing date, prize or rules can create legal risk and undermine fairness. UK advertising rules expect promotions to be run as advertised, and mid-campaign changes are likely to be difficult to justify unless something genuinely unexpected happens outside your control. Even then, any change should be limited, clearly communicated and consistent with the original terms.
Promoters are generally expected to publish or make available enough information to show that a genuine award took place, often including the winner’s surname and county for major prizes. That does not mean publishing full personal details, but it does mean being transparent about how winner information will be handled. Your terms and privacy wording should explain this clearly. Entrants should also have the opportunity to object to wider publication or ask for limited disclosure, while recognising that details may still need to be provided to a regulator if required.
You should keep a clear paper trail from launch through to prize fulfilment. That usually includes the final terms and conditions, promotional materials, entry records, evidence of eligibility checks, the method used to select the winner, correspondence with the winner, and proof that the prize was awarded. If you collected personal data for marketing, keep records of the wording used and any consents obtained. Good record keeping matters because if a complaint is made, you may need to show exactly how the promotion was run and why it was fair.
Many businesses extend the reach of competitions or prize giveaways by engaging influencers to promote them on social media. The regulatory framework remains the same. The Gambling Act and CAP Code apply equally to promotions conducted on social media.
When working with an influencer, it is a good idea to have a written marketing agreement in place. Such an agreement helps protect your brand, sets clear expectations for product promotions and competitions, and requires the influencer to comply with all the legal and regulatory requirements outlined above.
Prize promotions are a powerful way to engage customers and grow your audience, but only if they are legally compliant and properly structured. Our commercial law solicitors can advise on every stage of your campaign, from drafting competition terms and reviewing free entry routes to putting effective influencer agreements in place. With extensive experience advising consumer-facing businesses, we help ensure your promotion delivers results without exposing you to regulatory risk.
About our expert
Senior Solicitor - Commercial
Emily is an experienced commercial contracts lawyer who has been drafting and advising on a wide range of commercial contracts since qualifying in 2007. She joined Harper James from leading South Coast firm Paris Smith, where she was promoted to partner.
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