Delaware Sweepstakes Laws: Rules & Requirements

Delaware online promotions: avoid false prize promises and hidden material conditions, and explain judging or public voting before entry.

Planning a free giveaway or photo/video competition open to Delaware 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.

Delaware’s consumer-fraud standard

Delaware Code §2513 prohibits deceptive practices and false promises connected with merchandise sales, receipt and advertising. It also addresses intentional concealment or omission of material facts, even when no person has actually been misled or damaged.

For a brand promotion, use accurate prize descriptions and disclose conditions that could affect someone’s decision to participate. If a trip excludes airfare or a voucher has redemption limits, describe those restrictions before entry rather than after selecting a winner.

Sources: Delaware Consumer Fraud Act, §2513.

Publish the real selection and fulfillment process

A free drawing, a judged photo contest and a public-vote video contest promise different experiences. As practical drafting guidance, explain the entry window, eligible participants, how each winner is chosen and when the prize will be delivered.

Avoid suggesting that state registration, the Revup platform or a rules template amounts to government approval. The consumer-fraud provisions focus on the truth of the offer; they do not provide a blanket approval for every contest mechanism.

Sources: Delaware prohibited practices.

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 Delaware'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.