Running a Compliant Giveaway for Regulated Clients (Alcohol, Finance, Health)

A prize draw is a prize draw until the client sells something the law treats with suspicion. Then the usual questions about free entry and fair selection are joined by a second set: who is allowed to see the post, what the prize can be, whether the mechanic encourages the wrong behaviour, and who has to approve the wording. Alcohol, financial products and health products each have their own regulators, and each has already ruled on promotions in ways that catch ordinary giveaways out.

This guide covers what changes in each of the three sectors, mostly under UK rules with notes on the US, and then the process an agency should put around regulated work so that compliance is a step in the workflow and not a surprise at the end. It is general information, not legal advice, and regulated clients should have their own compliance team or counsel sign off.

The rule that applies to everything else

The giveaway basics do not go away. A free-to-enter draw, published terms, a verifiably random selection and a record of how it was run still apply, as covered in the guides on whether TikTok giveaways are legal in the UK and how to prove a draw was fair. Sector rules are added on top. If the sector rule and the generic rule pull in different directions, the stricter one wins.

Alcohol

Alcohol is the sector where giveaways are most common and most often mishandled. The main constraints are about who can see and enter the promotion, and what the prize and mechanic imply about drinking.

Keep it away from under-18s, and be able to show it

CAP's guidance on alcohol promotional marketing says promotions should be open only to people aged 18 or over, and that promotional alcohol should not be able to reach anyone younger, for example by requiring collection through outlets that check age face to face. The ASA has upheld complaints where an offer did not state prominently that it was for over-18s. In UK terms, the general expectation is that alcohol marketing should not appear in a medium where 25 percent or more of the audience is under 18, and the promoter is expected to hold evidence that this is not the case.

Social media makes that evidence harder. The same guidance notes that user-generated content such as prize draw entries can fall under the Code if the promoter comments on, shares or likes it. It also points to an ASA case involving a hospitality group, where requiring or encouraging people to share a competition post, without restricting it to over-18s, made it unlikely the promoter could show that under-18s were less than a quarter of the reach. In practice, that means an alcohol giveaway should not use share-to-enter, tag-a-friend mechanics aimed at a general audience, and should use platform age targeting where it exists. Put the age restriction in the video and the caption, not only in the terms.

Do not link winning to drinking more

CAP's rules say promotions must not be socially undesirable by encouraging excessive consumption or irresponsible use. A draw where the odds improve with each drink bought breached the Code in a 2014 ruling, and promotions need to run long enough to allow participation without excessive drinking. Free-entry comment draws avoid this by design, which is a reason to prefer them for alcohol clients over purchase-linked mechanics.

Think carefully about the prize

When the prize is alcohol, the guidance asks whether a large quantity is delivered at once or in instalments. A one-off delivery needs more care to avoid appearing to encourage excessive consumption, and a "year's supply" delivered in weekly instalments was accepted in a 2011 ruling given appropriate targeting and quantities. The simplest route for a giveaway is to avoid alcohol as the prize altogether and use merchandise, experiences or equipment. US guidance for alcohol brands says the same thing for a different reason: state alcohol laws restrict alcoholic beverages as sweepstakes prizes, and prizes redeemable for alcohol should be avoided.

US notes

In the US, alcohol sweepstakes are generally restricted to entrants aged 21 or over, with age gating at entry and age and identity checked again before a prize is awarded. Eligible states should be set before launch because alcohol laws vary by state. Federal tied-house rules limit what a supplier can give retailers, and state rules may restrict whether a retailer can be named, collect entries or award prizes. A free alternate method of entry does not make an alcohol purchase an acceptable way to enter in states that restrict it. Influencer posts can count as alcohol advertising if the industry member causes them to be published or pays for them.

Finance

Financial products are the sector where the risk is not only a fine but, in the UK, a criminal offence.

Who can communicate the promotion?

Under section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act, a person must not communicate an invitation or inducement to engage in investment activity in the course of business unless an authorised firm communicates it, an authorised firm approves it, or an exemption applies. Breach is a criminal offence, with up to two years' imprisonment, an unlimited fine, or both. The FCA's guidance on social media promotions says firms remain responsible for every promotion they make or cause to be made, that firms working with influencers must monitor them, and that influencers who promote regulated products without approval may themselves be committing an offence, even without a commercial relationship with a firm.

For an agency, the consequence is direct. A giveaway that promotes an investment product, even indirectly, needs the client's compliance team to approve the content, and the creator posting it needs to be inside that approval chain. Do not let a creator post their own version of the copy.

Fair, clear and not misleading

Financial promotions generally must be fair, clear and not misleading, give a balanced view of benefits and risks, and be compliant when viewed on their own. Risk warnings must be prominent. The FCA's guidance expects the warning for high-risk investments to be shown throughout the promotion, not to require a click, and treats risks that appear only in a caption as poor practice. For short-form video, that means the warning is on screen, not in the description.

Prizes that reward investing

The risky mechanic is the prize that pulls people toward the product. The FCA has banned promotions that offer monetary or non-monetary benefits that incentivise investment activity, such as refer-a-friend and new joiner bonuses, for the investments in scope, with rules in force from 1 February 2023. A giveaway whose entry depends on opening an account, funding it, trading or referring someone is in the danger zone. A free-entry draw with no connection to taking out a product is a different thing, but it still needs the approval chain above if it promotes an investment, so the practical rule is to keep entry free of any financial action and have compliance review the whole post.

US notes

In the US, brokerage clients have their own regime. FINRA's gifts rule, Rule 3220, was amended so that the annual limit per recipient rose from $100 to $300, effective 30 March 2026. It covers gifts tied to the recipient's employer's business, such as an existing or potential relationship involving brokerage or investment activity, and does not cover gifts to retail customers. Other regimes can set lower limits, including ERISA-related thresholds of $250 and $100 for different purposes, and public-sector pay-to-play rules. Treat any prize for a client in financial services as something their compliance team must check against these rules before launch.

Health

Health clients range from supplements to clinics, and the line that matters most in the UK is prescription medicines.

Prescription-only medicines

CAP Rule 12.12 says prescription-only medicines and prescription-only medical treatments may not be advertised to the public. The ASA treats nearly any reference to one as promotion, whether or not it is named, and special offers, time-limited deals or discounted prices that apply only to such medicines count as promotion. Posts by influencers and affiliates are covered, and the ASA holds both advertiser and affiliate responsible where an affiliate scheme rewards referrals. There are enforcement notices on advertising botulinum toxin injections and weight-loss prescription medicines.

The ASA's guidance page does not say in terms whether a prescription medicine may be offered as a prize. That is a gap in what is published, not permission. The sensible reading, given how widely the rule is applied to offers, is that a prize that is, or is redeemable for, a prescription-only treatment is off limits unless the client's regulatory counsel has approved it in writing.

Other health claims

Supplements, devices and wellness services carry claims rules of their own, and a giveaway post is advertising for those claims too. The caption cannot promise outcomes the product cannot be shown to deliver, and entrant testimonials gathered through the giveaway are still claims the advertiser has to substantiate.

Prizes and health data

Two other points apply to health clients. First, some jurisdictions prohibit certain prizes outright: in Australia, for example, surgical and medical procedures are among the restricted prize categories, as covered in the guide to running a giveaway in Australia. Second, health information is special category data under UK and EU GDPR. A giveaway should not ask entrants to disclose symptoms, conditions or treatment to enter. The principle of collecting only what you need, set out in the guide to what UK and EU brands can legally collect from entrants, applies with extra force here.

The process that makes this workable

The legal detail varies by sector. The workflow does not, and building it once saves repeated near misses.

Start with a regulated-client intake. Before any creative is written, record the client's sector, the regulators and codes that apply, the countries covered, who the named compliance contact is, and whether the client requires pre-approval of all public copy. Store it with the client's folder.

Agree the approval chain in writing. For regulated clients, nothing publishes until a named person at the client has approved the final copy, the prize, the eligibility rules and the entry mechanic. Keep the approval email in the giveaway record. This sits naturally inside the process described in the guide to running giveaways for many clients with a clear audit trail.

Fix the entry mechanic to the safest option. Free entry by comment, no purchase or financial action required, no share-to-enter, no tag-a-friend for alcohol, no health disclosures. A generated base set of giveaway rules gives a consistent starting point to which the client's compliance team can add sector-specific terms. If the client is unsure whether written rules are needed, the guide to official rules for a giveaway answers that.

Control who sees it. Use age targeting where the platform allows it, state the age limit on screen, and keep the evidence of the audience profile. Avoid boosting to broad audiences without checking the targeting settings.

Brief creators in writing, and approve their posts. For financial and health clients especially, creator copy must be the client-approved copy. Require the post link before it goes live, and keep a screenshot once it has.

Keep a takedown plan. If the client or a regulator objects, someone must be able to pause entries, remove the post and record what happened within the hour. Name that person.

Review after the draw. Confirm the winner's age and eligibility, check the prize delivery was as approved, and file the report. Winner age checks matter more for alcohol than for most clients.

A short checklist

Before launch: sector and regulator recorded, compliance approver named, copy and prize approved in writing, age restriction on screen, entry free of any purchase, financial action or health disclosure, audience targeting evidence saved.

During: no edits to the rules or copy without re-approval, no unapproved creator posts, comments monitored for claims or complaints.

After: winner age and eligibility verified, prize delivered as approved, evidence pack filed, approvals and any complaints kept with it.

The bottom line

A regulated client is not a harder giveaway, it is a giveaway with a stricter reviewer. Free comment entry, an age restriction that is visible and evidenced, no mechanic that rewards drinking, investing or buying a treatment, and written approval from the client before anything is posted covers most of the risk in all three sectors. The part agencies get wrong is rarely the legal test. It is publishing before the approver has seen the final wording.