Official rules checklist for a skill contest (Shopify brands)

Why the rules have to match the mechanic

Holland & Knight’s contest section is the reason this checklist exists: use concrete, clear, objective criteria for selecting the winner, or the promotion risks being treated as a sweepstakes. [2] RIT’s Office of Legal Affairs guidance — written for campus promotions, using the same lottery elements — is operational: chance cannot be injected into a skill contest; ties cannot be broken by putting two names in a hat; judging must be objective, disclosed, and applied to every entry; official rules must be posted and, once posted, not changed. [1]

The FTC tells advertisers to check the attorney general in each state where they will advertise, because bonding, licensing, and disclosure rules differ. [4] Instagram and Meta separately expect official rules and eligibility if you announce the promotion on those products. [8] [9]

Checklist

Use this as a review list against the page you will actually publish.

1. Sponsor. Legal name and address of the entity awarding the prize — not only a storefront brand name. RIT lists complete name and address of the sponsor and promoter as a required rules item. [1]
2. Eligibility. Age, residency or geographic area, employee/agency exclusions, and one-entry limits. State who cannot play. Contest.Zone’s example floor is 18 or older; your states may need more.
3. Void where prohibited. Say it, and mean it. Do not accept entries from places you have not cleared. Closing a state in the rules and leaving the embed open there is a mismatch.
4. Entry period. Start and end with a timezone, or a clear “while live” window that matches the storefront. RIT requires opening and scheduled termination dates. [1]
5. How to enter. Every required action, including email, 18+ / rules attestation, and any purchase path. If there is no purchase path, say so. If there is one, you are no longer in a simple “free skill play” fact pattern — see No purchase necessary and AMOE.
6. Ranking and scoring. The exact criteria, in language a player can apply before they start. “Most creative” is not an objective criterion unless you publish a scoring rubric and qualified judges. Holland & Knight’s warning is aimed at this gap. [2]
7. Skill-based tie-breakers. No hat draw, no coin flip, no “we’ll pick our favorite.” RIT: there must be a definitive talent- or skill-based tie-breaker. [1] Fastest legitimate server-measured time is one example, not the only lawful one.
8. Prize. Accurate description, quantity, and retail value; whether every prize will be awarded; any restrictions (no cash in lieu, travel, taxes the winner is responsible for). RIT includes number of prizes, description, and retail value. [1]
9. Winner determination and notification. How winners are chosen, when, how they are notified, how long they have to respond, and what happens if they do not. Where and when a winner list can be obtained. [1]
10. Data and privacy. What you collect, who receives it (the sponsoring brand, a platform, a processor), and a link to the privacy policy that actually governs. Instagram/Meta expect you — not the platform — to be clear that you are collecting data. [9]
11. Platform disclaimers. If you announce or administer on Instagram or a Meta Page, current guidelines require a release of the platform and a statement that it does not sponsor, endorse, or administer the promotion. [8] [9] Shopify’s Acceptable Use Policy is a separate merchant obligation; it is not a rules substitute.
12. Maximum cost, if any. RIT requires stating the maximum cost to the participant. If play is free, say that. [1]

Contest rules and sweepstakes rules are different lists

RIT publishes two official-rules inventories. Brands often paste a sweepstakes template onto a skill contest, or the reverse. The overlapping items (sponsor, dates, geography, prize, winner list) are not the problem. The unique items are:

Once posted, RIT says the rules cannot be changed. Florida’s game-promotion statute says the same for filed chance promotions: rules and regulations “may not thereafter be changed, modified, or altered.” [1] [5]

Contest.Zone Official Rules as an example structure

Live Contest.Zone contests expose a public rules page with this section order. Treat it as a skeleton, not as completed legal language:

1. Sponsor — brand or sponsor name from the contest record.
2. Entry period — live window from the contest dates.
3. Eligibility — 18+, void where prohibited, one entry per person.
4. How to enter — complete the games and submit email with the attestation; no purchase.
5. Judging — skill-based ranking (score then server-measured time, or the mechanic for that game type); on-screen timer is display only.
6. Prize — name and description from the contest record.
7. Void where prohibited.
8. Privacy — link to the site Privacy Policy.
9. Winner notification — email at the address entered.
10. Sponsor’s additional rules — optional text the brand supplies.

Chance filings are a different document

Some states file or bond promotions in which chance and prize are present. The thresholds below are the current published figures. They apply to chance promotions as those statutes define them. They are not a claim that a skill contest is exempt — or covered — and they are not a fifty-state list.

FDACS’s operator page adds two practical points that the statute’s definition already implies: even a promotion based in another state must be filed if it is conducted in Florida or open to Florida residents and the combined prize value is more than $5,000; and FDACS’s acceptance of a filing “may not be construed as an endorsement, approval or recommendation.” Filing is not a legality certificate. [10]

New York’s Department of State restates the registerable shape as four facts together: promote consumer products or services; total prize value in excess of $5,000; winner determined by chance; no consideration to enter. [11] If you required a purchase, you are not looking at a missed $5,000 filing — you are looking at the illegal lottery pattern discussed in skill contest vs sweepstakes. [3]

Rules say one thing, the live page does another

Mismatch is how a clean checklist fails in production.

Contest.Zone is an example, not a warranty

Publishing on Contest.Zone gives you a rules URL that matches the live ranking. It does not review your prize, your Instagram caption, or your Shopify theme. If you add a random bonus drawing, change eligibility in a caption but not on /rules, or accept entries from a state the rules close, the checklist failed in production.

Merchant product context is on For brands. Instagram-specific platform issues are in Instagram giveaway rules.