Sweepstakes, Contests, and Giveaway Laws in Russia

Promotions in Russia: rules

In Russia, contests and promotional lotteries are ruled by the law with very restrictive regulations.
In order to organize a contest or a promotional lottery, you have to comply with the law on advertising, the law on lotteries and the personal data protection law.

These laws are relatively new and are considered complicated and heavily bureaucratized by the local legal experts themselves.

The lack of an interpretative jurisprudence and of official guidelines makes it particularly important that the analysis of the single promotional activities is carried out by experts that check the compliance of the procedures with the existing regulations in order not to risk sanctions.

Promosfera is specialized in the management of prize promotions in Russia as it can rely on a team that is specialized in international promotions, as well as on the collaboration of local legal experts.

Promotions in Russia

To all the companies interested in promoting products or services in Russia we can offer full assistance regarding:

  • Prize promotions
  • Gift with Purchase Promotions
  • Trade incentives
  • Customer loyalty programmes

Some of the services we offer:

  • A preliminary feasibility analysis
  • Consultancy on the promotion procedure in compliance with the regulations on prize contests in Russia
  • Handling of paperwork with the competent authorities
  • Checking of communication material according to law requirements
  • Consultancy on taxes related to the promotion
  • Consultancy on Privacy issues

Organizing a prize promotion in Russia: Did you know that…
According to the amendments to the law on lotteries of, from August 2010, you cannot use technical, electronic and mechanical tools in promotional lotteries! This means that any lottery requiring the use of a telephone, internet or any other technical tool in order to participate, is illegal. Consequently, in this case we recommend inviting people to send cards to the promoter’s mail address in order to proceed with a manual draw in the presence of a notary.