Over the course of the last 15 years, sweepstakes have changed considerably. Years ago, (gosh, I sound like a dinosaur), but way back when, sponsors were much more flexible with their rules, prizes and number of winners. With the economy crunch, I have seen a deterioration of the number of prizes given by sponsors, along with much more stringent guidelines. This is a key element in the analysis of your winning or not.

For example, a couple of years ago, it was not unusual to see a sponsor giving away 30 to 100 vehicles, 50 televisions or 75 bicycles. Now you rarely see sweepstakes offering a multitude of prizes. I recently entered a sweepstakes that I am very familiar with, because after you are in sweepstaking for years, there are certain sweepstakes that companies do every year. Last year the sponsors gave away $60,000 in assorted cash increments and this year, the total they were giving away is $15,000. That is a 75% reduction in prizes they are awarding, and that drop was in just one year!

Another factor for the decline in winning can be attributed to the number of entries allowed. Previously, it was very rare that contests limited the number of entries, but in today’s sweepstaking arena, one entry per person or household, is becoming the norm.

There used to be many more sweepstakes than we are seeing today. It is only natural that when companies have to cut costs, they are going to cut out the “fringe” items, and unfortunately, giving prizes away is one of them.

I know this may sound like Greek to some of my readers, but there actually was a time for some of us, when there was no Internet. Sweepstakes were found on cereal boxes, newspapers, ads from companies and hidden at gas stations. They also tended to be more skill oriented such as create a slogan, name a product or guess the answer to something. Even though the exposure was less, the odds of winning were greater because most people would just pass by contests with the old saying, “I never win anything.” So even though there were fewer contests, there were also fewer entrants. But if you were tenacious and dogged it, you could really get some nice prizes.

Sweepstakes are like the stock market, they go up and they come down. The key is to invest your time wisely and hang in there with the old standbys, the blue chip sweepstakers. Don’t cash in your chips, or walk away from sweepstaking just because you are not winning at this time. Hang in there and you will eventually see the dividends of all your hard work.

Sweepstakes Your Guide To Winning! Get the inside scoop on how people are winning all of those sweepstakes and contests, and here's a clue, it's not all luck! This guide will give you step-by-step instructions on how to be a winner!

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Sandy Lovern; and Sweepstakes Success