Giveaway rules template

Free giveaway rules template

Fill in your prize, dates and who can enter, then copy official rules for your website or link in bio. They answer the question entrants ask most: how was the winner picked?

For giveaways and sweepstakes in the US and Canada. A starting point, not legal advice. Version française

The giveaway

Giveaway name

Where it runs

How to enterReplace the parts in [brackets] with your own.

Extra entries countFor giveaways where more comments, tags or shares mean more chances. Leave it off for one entry per person.

Dates

Starts

Ends

Time zone

Draw date

Who can enter

Open to residents of

Minimum age

Prize

Value of one prize

Currency

Winners

AlternatesBackups, in order, if a winner doesn't reply.

Winners must reply within

You

SponsorThe business or person running the giveaway.

Contact email

Mailing address

Governed by the laws ofUsually the province or state where the sponsor is based.

Your rules

OFFICIAL RULES: [GIVEAWAY NAME]

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A purchase or payment of any kind won't improve your chances of winning. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED.

1. Sponsor
[Sponsor name], [mailing address] ("Sponsor"), runs this giveaway. Questions: [email address].

2. Who can enter
Open to legal residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia who are at least 18 years old, or the age of majority where they live if that is older, when they enter. Employees of Sponsor and the members of their immediate families and households can't enter.

3. Entry period
The giveaway starts on [start date and time] and ends on [end date and time], Eastern Time. Entries made outside this period don't count. Sponsor's clock is the official clock for this giveaway.

4. How to enter
Comment on the giveaway post from [@account] on Instagram: [link].
Limit one entry per person. Extra entries from the same person are combined into one. Entries made with bots, scripts, or fake or multiple accounts, and entries from people who can't enter, will be disqualified.

5. Prizes
One winner will receive [prize]. Approximate retail value: [value]. Prizes can't be transferred or exchanged for cash. If a prize becomes unavailable, Sponsor may substitute a prize of equal or greater value. Winners are responsible for any taxes and for any costs not described here. A US winner may have to provide tax forms, such as an IRS Form W-9, before receiving a prize.

6. Odds
The odds of winning depend on the number of eligible entries received.

7. How the winners are picked
On [draw date], Sponsor will pick one winner and one alternate winner, in order, at random from all eligible entries using Drawproof (drawproof.org). Before the draw, Sponsor locks the list of eligible entries. Drawproof timestamps a fingerprint of that list together with the number of winners, then picks the winners with public randomness that is published after the list is locked, so nobody, including Sponsor, can choose or change the result. Sponsor will share the draw's proof page with the winner announcement. Anyone can use it to check that an entry was in the draw and to repeat the selection.

8. Contacting the winners
Sponsor will contact each potential winner within 48 hours after the draw, through the platform or the contact details they used to enter. A potential winner must reply within 72 hours and may be asked to confirm that they can enter and that they accept these rules. If a potential winner doesn't reply in time, can't enter, or doesn't follow these rules, the prize goes to the next alternate winner in the order drawn.

9. Publicity
Except where the law doesn't allow it, by accepting a prize a winner agrees that Sponsor may announce their name or username and city, without further compensation.

10. Release and limits of liability
By entering, entrants agree to release Sponsor and its employees and agents from any claim related to the giveaway or to the use of a prize, except where the law doesn't allow it. Sponsor isn't responsible for entries that are lost, late, incomplete or not received because of technical problems.

11. Not affiliated with Instagram
This giveaway is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Instagram. By entering, each entrant completely releases Instagram from all liability related to the giveaway.

12. Changes and cancellation
If fraud, a technical failure or anything else outside Sponsor's control harms the fairness of the giveaway, Sponsor may cancel, suspend or change it, as fairly as possible and subject to the law.

13. Privacy
Sponsor uses entrants' information only to run this giveaway. The list of entries is uploaded to Drawproof for the draw. The public proof page shows salted fingerprints of the entries, not the entries themselves, and the winners' names or usernames, with email addresses masked.

14. Winners list and governing law
Sponsor will post the winners' names or usernames and the draw's proof page where the giveaway was announced. These rules are governed by the laws of [province or state].

Short version for your post

No purchase necessary. Open to legal residents of the US, 18+. Ends [end date and time] Eastern Time. One winner picked at random on [draw date] with Drawproof; the proof link will be posted with the result. Full rules: [link to your rules]. Not sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Instagram.

The text updates as you type. When entries close, run the draw your rules describe; it takes about two minutes.

Before you post your rules

What the platforms and the law ask of a giveaway, checked against the official sources on October 19, 2026. The template already includes the parts that belong in the rules.

Instagram

Whoever runs the giveaway is responsible for its official rules, its eligibility (such as age and residency) and following the law, including any registration.
Each entrant must completely release Instagram, and the rules must say the giveaway is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Instagram.
Don't ask people to tag themselves in photos they aren't in.

Source: Instagram promotion guidelines

YouTube

Entry must be free. The rules must link to the YouTube Community Guidelines, say YouTube isn't a sponsor, have entrants release YouTube from liability and include a privacy notice.
You can't run a contest through ads, or ask entrants to give up all rights to, or ownership of, their entry.
YouTube's spam policy counts offering rewards in exchange for likes, views or subscribers as engagement manipulation, so make a comment the way to enter.

Sources: YouTube contest policies · spam policy

TikTok and Facebook

We found no contest-specific rules from TikTok. Its Community Guidelines ask you to turn on the content disclosure setting when a post promotes your own business, and count giving away regulated goods, such as alcohol or vapes, as trading them.
Facebook sets its own promotion rules in its Pages, Groups and Events Policies. Read them before running a giveaway there.

Sources: TikTok Community Guidelines · Facebook Pages, Groups and Events Policies

United States

A sweepstakes must be free to enter. Asking people to pay or buy something to enter, or to improve their odds, makes it an illegal lottery.
New York and Florida: when a promotion for a product or service offers more than $5,000 in prizes, register it 30 days (New York) or 7 days (Florida) before it starts, keep the prize value in a trust account or bond, and file the list of winners afterwards.
Rhode Island: a retail business that awards more than $500 in prizes by chance to promote itself must file with the Department of State.
Taxes: from 2026, the sponsor reports a US winner's prizes on IRS Form 1099-MISC when they're worth $2,000 or more.

Sources: FTC · USPS Publication 546 · N.Y. GBL § 369-e · Fla. Stat. § 849.094 · R.I. Gen. Laws § 11-50-1 · IRS 1099-MISC instructions

Canada

The Competition Act (s. 74.06) requires fair disclosure of the number and approximate value of the prizes, the regions they cover and anything that materially affects the chances of winning. Winners must be picked by skill or at random, and prizes must not be unduly delayed.
Canadian contests ask winners a skill-testing question before confirming them. It's the usual way to stay clear of the Criminal Code's rules on prizes given by chance (s. 206), and the Competition Bureau lists it among the terms to disclose.

Sources: Competition Act s. 74.06 · Criminal Code s. 206 · Competition Bureau guidelines

Quebec

Since October 27, 2023, Quebec no longer regulates publicity contests: there is nothing to file with the Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux and no duties to pay.
The Consumer Protection Act (s. 233) still requires clearly disclosing all the conditions for winning a prize.
The Charter of the French language requires commercial advertising and documents offered to the public to be in French, so give Quebec entrants French rules: use the French template.

Sources: Rules respecting publicity contests (repealed) · Consumer Protection Act · Charter of the French language

Laws and platform rules change. This is general information, not legal advice.

Questions

Do I need official rules for an Instagram giveaway?

Yes. Instagram's promotion guidelines make whoever runs a giveaway responsible for its official rules and eligibility, and require each entrant to release Instagram and the rules to say Instagram isn't involved. The template includes both.

Do I need to register my giveaway?

Usually not. In the US, New York and Florida require registration and a trust account or bond when a promotion for a product or service offers more than $5,000 in prizes, and Rhode Island requires a filing from retail businesses awarding more than $500 in prizes by chance. Quebec stopped requiring contest registration on October 27, 2023.

Why is there a skill-testing question?

Canadian contests ask winners a short math question before confirming the prize, the usual way to stay clear of the Criminal Code's rules on prizes given by chance. The template adds it whenever people in Canada can enter.

Do I have to pick the winner with Drawproof?

No. Section 7 says the winners are picked with Drawproof because it gives entrants a proof page they can check. If you pick another way, rewrite section 7 to say exactly how, so entrants know what to expect.

What is an alternate winner?

A backup picked in the same draw, in order. If a winner doesn't reply in time or can't accept the prize, it goes to the next alternate, so there's no second draw for anyone to question.

Where should I post the rules?

Somewhere you can link to that won't change during the giveaway: your website, a link-in-bio page or a public document. Put the short version in the giveaway post itself, with the link to the full rules.

Is this legal advice?

No. It's a plain-language starting point for common giveaways. Laws differ by place and prize size, so have a lawyer review your rules for valuable prizes or giveaways open in many places.

Rules written. Now run the draw they promise.

Lock your entrant list, let public randomness pick the winners, and share a proof anyone can check.

Run a free draw