Marden-Kane Promotion Coordinator Joe Keffas explains how to register a sweepstakes in New York.

As you have read in previous blog posts, sometimes you have to register your sweepstakes with certain states if the ARV is over $5000. Those states you need to register a sweepstakes in are New York, Florida and Rhode Island. Florida and Rhode Island have been discussed in previous posts so today we will learn about how to register a sweepstakes in New York. You do not have to register a contest in the state of New York.

Registering a sweepstakes in the state of New York is relatively easy compared to Florida. In order to register a sweepstakes in New York you need to submit a filing fee along with some basic paperwork that needs to be filled out. Like Florida, this paperwork must also include a copy of the official rules, as well as submitting a surety bond, opening a trust account. Unlike Florida, New York does not offer waiver status. All of this needs to be submitted 30 days prior to the state date of your promotion. If you register after the 30 days you could receive a fine of $1000.

Let’s start with the bond or trust account. If you are registering a promotion with the state of New York you need to submit a bond or trust account for the total ARV of the prize. This account is set up so that in case you do not fulfill the prizes to the winners, the state can take the money from this account and provide the winner with the prize. You can open the bond or trust account if you want, or we can open the bond or trust account for you as well for a small fee.

Once you have registered with New York they will send you a confirmation letter letting you know that the sweepstakes has been registered. This letter contains a code that is specific to your sweepstakes that we need to include on all correspondence with New York. After the sweepstakes has ended you have 60 days from the drawing date to submit an official winners list to the state of New York. If you can’t get all the winners within the 60 days you can file for an extension, which is usually another 60 days. After you submit the winner’s list to the New York they send back a letter letting you know that you can close your trust or bond with your financial institution.

If you need assistance, feel free to contact us and we can help you register your next sweepstakes.

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