Colorado Sweepstakes Laws: Rules & Requirements

Colorado promotions: show prize retail value clearly and have the ability to supply the prize. Mailed prize notices have separate rules.

Planning a free giveaway or photo/video competition open to Colorado residents? This guide focuses on ordinary commercial promotions with free entry, including random drawings and submission contests using judges or public voting. Paid entries or votes, purchase-linked promotions, charitable raffles and regulated prizes need separate analysis.

Editorial review: September 11, 2026. Sources are linked beside the guidance they support. This is an informational overview, not legal advice for a particular campaign.

Prize value and the ability to deliver

Colorado’s Consumer Protection Act, §6-1-105(1)(y), addresses clear, prominent retail-value disclosure immediately next to or following prize descriptions in solicitations. Subsection (jj) addresses representing that someone has won or is eligible to win without the present ability to supply the prize.

Use an accurate value and secure the advertised prize before promoting it. For a trip, product bundle or experience, describe the actual award and material restrictions rather than relying on an inflated headline value.

Sources: Colorado Revised Statutes, Title 6, §6-1-105.

Separate web contests from specialized mailed notices

Colorado’s separate prize-notice provisions in §§6-1-801–804 use definitions tied to mailed or private-carrier notices and a purchase/payment connection. Their detailed typography and timing requirements should not be presented as automatic rules for every free online photo or video contest.

For a web submission contest, clearly describe the judging or public-voting method and follow it. If the campaign adds mailed prize notices or sales-linked claims, check the additional provisions for that format.

Sources: Colorado prize-notice definitions and requirements.

Registration and campaigns open to other states

For ordinary free commercial sweepstakes, the familiar prize-value filing regimes are in New York, Florida and Rhode Island. That does not remove Colorado's disclosure and conduct rules described above, or special rules for a different industry or format. See the registration guide and its sources for that distinction.

The state-law directory links to all 50 states and DC. A “void where prohibited” line does not itself define your eligible audience or complete a required filing.

Before opening entries

Use these practical drafting and administration steps alongside the applicable state rules:

• Identify the sponsor, eligible entrants, entry period and advertised prize.
• Explain the free entry method and how winners are selected. For submissions, describe judging criteria or voting stages and tie handling.
• Make advertisements, the form and full rules agree; do not imply an entrant has already won.
• Plan verification, notification and fulfillment, and retain the rules and selection records.

Federal advertising standards also apply. The FTC warns against misleading purchase prompts and prize claims; see its advertising guidance. Tax reporting and channel-specific rules are covered in the national sweepstakes guide.