Who regulates online comps? 17 February 2022 at 8:39PM edited 18 February 2022 at 1:54AM in Compers chat corner 4 replies 438 views

chrisgil

So. Ive got into doing comps in an attempt to be productive in my spare time. 

Ones like mckinney competitions 

All i can find is the gambling commission. 
And they have a page on free/prize comps

They have a list of very loose rules which are sketchy at best. Its debatable wether most of them really follow them. For istance it says they cant request first class stamps.   Most do. 

Nothing on the limit where most limit to one postal entry??

They cant make it more inconvenient: Some definitely take this !!!!!! on that. 

Their complaints process is: contact the company. Great. Thanks for that. 

Just seems like this is not in any way regulated.  With absolutely no way of stopping all these comps picking their winners, making winners up..?? 

AC55

The ASA regulate competitions as competitions can be classed as a promotion.

https://www.asa.org.uk/advice-online/promotional-marketing-competitions.html

mjm3346

The site you mention is one of many sites that take money to enter their competitions. These sites are very profitable for those behind them and they generally word them to say what great odds there are of winning and completely "overlook" the cost of an entry - say odds of winning a prize worth £200* only 50 to 1! But with the 50 tickets costing £7.50 each they receive almost double the value of the prize in entry fees - I think their target audience are those who struggle to avoid falling for every scam e-mail they receive.
The vast majority of competitions on here are free to enter.

*can often be purchased for less than the "claimed" value 

chrisgil

AC55 said:

The ASA regulate competitions as competitions can be classed as a promotion.

https://www.asa.org.uk/advice-online/promotional-marketing-competitions.html

Do you know much about how they do regulate these comps? Will have a look through.   
Surely there should be some kind of register these comps need to be on to show they are genuine and follow the rules etc.. 

mjm3346

chrisgil said:

AC55 said:

The ASA regulate competitions as competitions can be classed as a promotion.

https://www.asa.org.uk/advice-online/promotional-marketing-competitions.html

Do you know much about how they do regulate these comps? Will have a look through.   
Surely there should be some kind of register these comps need to be on to show they are genuine and follow the rules etc.. 

If they get complaints they may look at them, there is no requirement to register (delay in reply down to 5 days without power)