The prize draw is an event where one or more prizes are randomly assigned only to certain participants, while in the reward program all participants are entitled to receive a prize in return for an action they perform (e.g., purchasing a product, filling out a quiz, scratch-off activity).

The preparation of the rule book is compulsory for all prize draws and reward programs, however, in the latter, in one specific case, this obligation is lifted, namely, when all participants receive a benefit without being required to make a purchase.

For the prize draw, the rules must be sent to the Italian Ministry 15 days before the announcement and the start of the event. For the rewards program, this time constraint does not exist, it is sufficient to send the rulebook to the Ministry even the day before the announcement and the start of the event.

Yes, it is possible to start advertising before the start of the event, but in the case of prize draws, the 15-day advance for sending the rules to the Ministry will no longer refer to the date of the start of the contest, but to the date of the start of advertising of the same.

The mandatory costs to be covered are first and foremost linked to tax charges, consisting of the non-deductible VAT paid on the purchase of goods or services intended as prizes or a 20% substitute tax on the purchase price of goods or services that are not taxable, not subject to or exempt for VAT purposes. In addition, a 25% IRPEF withholding tax is applied on the total value of the prizes up on offer.
Another mandatory cost is the security deposit or surety bond. In both prize draws and reward programs, it is necessary to guarantee the value of the prize pool through a deposit. For contests, 100% of the value must be guaranteed, while for operations, it is sufficient to guarantee 20% of the value of the prize pool estimated.

No, you can’t offer cash prizes, but you can award coupons, vouchers, and discounts to incentivize the purchase of products and services.

For the Ministry of Economic Development there is no difference, all social networks must follow the same regulations. All data relating to the contest must be stored on Italian servers. If this is not possible, the legislation stipulates the requirement for a mirroring system, i.e., transmission in real-time.

You can organize contests like social giveaways only on social networks by collecting comments to one or more posts published by the promoter. You can not organize contests like “follow the page” or “like contest”.

No, it is not possible to force participants to become your followers. Nothing prohibits you from encouraging them to follow the page through a call-to-action, but the obligation to follow can not be a requirement for participation and can not be included in the rules.