Running a trade promotion is a great way to expand your brand’s audience while building on existing brand loyalty. However, each state and territory, like the ACT, NSW, VIC and QLD, have their own unique set of legal restrictions that must be followed — if not you can face serious consequences.
In this article we will break down the key considerations and requirements necessary to run a trade promotion in the ACT.
Consider how you will measure the success of your promotion, as this will determine what type of promotion will work best for you.
There are two main types of trade promotions — Games of Chance and Games of Skill.
Games of Skill are promotional activities whereby the winner(s) are determined by some sort of skill based mechanic (e.g. entrants submit an answer to a promotional question which can then be judged in order to determine a winner). This requires entrants to be heavily involved with your brand and your promotion and works best for engaging with existing, loyal customers.
Games of Chance are promotional activities whereby the winner(s) are determined by some sort of chance based mechanic, such as a random prize draw or an instant win type competition (e.g. scratch cards, online instant win promotions). This type of promotion has a lower barrier to enter and works well for both attracting new customers and engaging with existing customers.
While it is only mandatory for games of chance based promotions to have terms and conditions, we strongly recommend that all trade promotions have a set of Terms and Conditions to govern the conduct of the promotion. Terms and conditions can be created quickly and easily with the use of a terms and conditions generator like Promotion Wizard.
The advantage of including terms and conditions for your game of skill promotion include your ability to clearly outline:
In the ACT, a permit is only required to conduct a Game of Chance if the prize pool exceeds $3,000. Once the Terms and Conditions for the promotional activity have been drafted and finalised, they need to be sent to the ACT Gambling & Racing Commission for review and approval. Once approved they will issue an ACT trade promotion permit. This process currently takes around 3 — 5 working days.
There are no set legal requirements you must follow or obligations you must fulfill when running Game of Skill trade promotions in ACT.
However, there are several requirements that come with running a Game of Chance promotion in ACT. These include:
There is no requirement in the ACT for an independent person to scrutineer any prize draws conducted as part of a promotional activity.
Once the prize draw has been conducted (or winners determined), winners must be notified in writing within 21 days.
Winners of prizes valued at $1,000 or more must be published in a newspaper or other publication approved by the ACT lottery department (such as on the Promoter’s website).
In the case that there are unclaimed prizes following the initial winner determination, an unclaimed prize draw is required.
In all States/​Territories, there are restrictions on the provision of certain prizes in a trade promotion. In the ACT, you cannot award tobacco products as a prize. In addition, if you are awarding alcohol as a prize, certain information regarding the responsible consumption of alcohol must be included in the Terms and Conditions. Entry must also be limited to individuals aged 18 years or over.
When conducting a trade promotion in the ACT, you are required to retain all records relating to the promotional activity (including entry forms, purchase receipts, etc.). All records must be retained for a 12 month period.
Keeping track of your promotion, and all the different requirements that go into terms and conditions in each state can be tricky. Using a technology platform such as Plexus Promotion Wizard can take the stress out of running a promotion.
With Plexus Promotion Wizard you can generate perfect T&Cs for your competition or trade promotion in as little as 15 minutes. The automated terms and conditions generator allows you to easily input your promotion details and have legally compliant terms and conditions in 24hours.
Plexus Promotion Wizard offers end to end legal support for competitions & promotions. Custom T&Cs and the right competition permits without the hassles. 90% faster and half the cost of traditional legal firms.
One of our consultants will be in touch ASAP to answer your questions and determine your requirements.
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