SMS competitions are a great way to boost your email marketing campaign's ratings, so it's important that you know what this means and what the relevant rules are. There are legal implications of competitions by sms.
According to the National Lotteries Board, established in 1997, a "lottery" in terms of the Act is "any game, scheme or plan where the prize is distributed by luck or chance." So if the competition involves drawing a random winner, then it's a lottery. But there are only two types of legal lotteries in South Africa - the National Lottery, and "raffles" conducted by non-profit organizations. Anything else is illegal. However, your company or profit-making entity may conduct promotional competitions, as long as you are promoting goods or services, and those goods or services are your own.
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