59.1-417 - Representation of eligibility to win or to receive a prize, gift or item of value.
§ 59.1-417. Representation of eligibility to win or to receive a prize, giftor item of value.
A. No person shall, in connection with the sale or lease or solicitation forsale or lease of goods, property or service, represent that another personhas a chance to win or to receive a prize, gift or item of value withoutclearly and conspicuously disclosing on whose behalf the contest or promotionis conducted, as well as all material conditions which a participant mustsatisfy. In an oral solicitation all material conditions shall be disclosedprior to requesting the consumer to enter into the sale or lease.Additionally, in any written material covered by this section, each of thefollowing shall be clearly and prominently disclosed (i) immediately adjacentto the first identification of the prize, gift or item of value to which itrelates or (ii) in a separate section entitled "Consumer Disclosure" whichtitle shall be printed in no less than ten-point bold face type and whichsection shall contain only a description of the prize, gift or item of valueand the disclosures outlined in subdivisions 1, 2 and 3 of this subsection:
1. The actual retail value of each item or prize, which for purposes of thissection shall be (i) the price at which substantial sales of the item weremade in the area in which the offer was received within the last ninety daysor (ii) the actual cost of the item of value, gift or prize to the person onwhose behalf the contest or promotion is conducted plus no more than 700percent, but in no case shall it exceed such person's good faith estimate ofthe appraised retail value;
2. The actual number of each item, gift or prize to be awarded; and
3. The odds of receiving each item, gift or prize.
B. All disclosures required by this chapter to be in writing shall complywith the following:
1. All dollar values shall be stated in arabic numerals and be preceded by adollar sign ($).
2. The number of each item, gift or prize to be awarded and the odds ofreceiving each item, gift or prize shall be stated in arabic numerals andshall be written in a manner which is clear and understandable.
C. It shall be unlawful to notify a person that he will receive a gift, prizeor item of value that has as a condition of receiving the gift, prize or itemof value the requirement that he pay any money, or purchase, lease or rentany goods or services, unless there shall have been clearly and conspicuouslydisclosed the nature of the charges to be incurred, including, but notlimited to, any shipping charge and handling charges. Such disclosure shallbe given (i) on the face of any written materials or (ii) prior to requestingor inviting the person to enter into the sale or lease in any oralnotification.
D. The provisions of this section shall not apply where to be eligible:
1. Participants are asked only to complete and mail, or deposit at a localretail commercial establishment, an entry blank obtainable locally or bymail, or to call in their entry by telephone; or
2. Participants are never required to listen to a sales presentation andnever requested or required to pay any sum of money for any merchandise,service or item of value.
E. Nothing in this section shall create any liability for acts by thepublisher, owner, agent or employee of a newspaper, periodical, radiostation, television station, cable-television system or other advertisingmedium arising out of the publication or dissemination of any advertisementor promotion governed by this section, when the publisher, owner, agent oremployee did not know that the advertisement or promotion violated therequirements of this section.
F. Every solicitation that seeks to induce its recipient to call apay-per-call service telephone number to receive any information about aprize, gift, or item of value shall (i) conform to the provisions of thissection, and (ii) disclose the total cost of the pay-per-call serviceimmediately adjacent to the pay-per-call service telephone number. Inwritten materials, this disclosure shall be in ten-point bold-faced type.All solicitations delivered through the electronic media shall contain thedisclosures in such size, duration, or volume so as to be clearly readable oraudible to the recipient.
(1989, c. 689; 1991, c. 154.)