the.com/sweepstakes
a lottery wearing a free hat, betting you'll buy something to improve your odds.
means A contest or lottery in which the entire prize pool is awarded to one or a few winners, often entered for free as a promotional draw.
from A plain compound of 'sweep' and 'stakes' — the winner literally 'sweeps' the entire pot of stakes off the table. The term comes from gambling and horse racing, where 'stakes' were the bets pooled together and the victor swept them all clean. An early form, 'sweepstake,' appears as far back as the 15th century, and it even saw use as the name of a ship; the racing and lottery sense settled into common use over the following centuries.
- legal trick
- void where prohibited keeps it from being gambling
- no purchase
- must always offer a free entry path
- prize fame
- Publishers Clearing House crowned winners on doorsteps for decades
- sweep origin
- named for sweeping the entire pool of stakes
- tiny odds
- winning often beats lightning-strike probability barely
publishers clearing house — annual $5,000 a week for life drawing, largest us sweepstakes since 1967
macy's holiday sweepstakes — annual contest awarding $5 million in prizes during november-december