It is very common in commerce for companies to hold raffles and awards to capture consumers' attention and boost their brand. These raffles require authorization and a legal procedure that we will explain in this article.
Thus, the raffles carried out by business owners, such as scratch-and-win, contests, coupons, and various activities aimed at incentivizing consumers to purchase their products or services, are regulated by Law 643 of 2001, which establishes requirements and procedures to carry out such activities, which must be taken into account by business owners to conduct their promotional raffles.
Now, this law regulates all those activities considered as games of chance and excludes certain activities related to them, including those carried out by "merchants or industrialists to boost their sales." This exception means that no authorization from Coljuegos is required to carry it out, and the derived tax does not have to be paid.
However, this exception does not operate automatically; therefore, its application must be requested from the competent authority, ETESA. In this request, requirements such as the following must be accredited:
- That the activity is sporadic and does not form part of the development of its corporate purpose.
- That it is for the purpose of boosting sales.
And also mention the terms and conditions under which the activity will be developed:
- Objective of the raffle.
- Mechanics of the promotion.
- Rules of the promotion.
- Duration.
- Coverage: local or regional level.
- Among others.
Then, once the request is submitted, the authority will conduct the respective analysis and issue an opinion accepting or denying the request. If the request is denied, this decision is subject to appeal; on the contrary, if it is accepted, the raffle proceeds, taking into account that: the awarding must be done 30 days later, the presence of a delegate is required, and a delivery record must be drawn up and sent to the authority within the following 5 days.
On the other hand, it should be noted that if the request is denied, the aforementioned law establishes the procedure to follow for games of chance for advertising and promotional purposes. For this, a form must be filled out, which is found on the Coljuegos website https://tramiteagil.coljuegos.gov.co/PortalOperador/Coljuegos/index.xhtml, and the corresponding tax must be paid.
In this sense, companies can conduct their raffles within the legal framework, without incurring any legal violation that could lead to a monetary sanction imposed by the competent authority, and achieve their objectives by capturing the attention and interest of consumers while boosting their sales.