Global Sweepstakes Promotions Market Projected to Reach $12.31 Billion by 2035
Content Manager
Last updated
17 March 2026
As digital channels become more congested, brands are increasingly relying on participation-based promotions to capture consumers’ attention. At the center of this strategy are contests and sweepstakes campaigns. New industry data now illustrates just how large this segment has become.
According to the February 2026 industry report from Business Research Insights, the global contests, sweepstakes, and promotional games market will be valued at $7.28 billion in 2026. The report estimates that the market will expand to $12.31 billion by 2035, which would mean an average annual growth rate of 5.8% during the forecast period.
What the Contests, Sweepstakes, and Promotional Games Market Includes
The Business Research Insights report divides this market into three promotional formats that companies use to run prize based campaigns: contests, sweepstakes, and promotional games.
- Contests make up the skill-based segment. Participants compete based on their knowledge, creativity, or performance, and organizers determine the winners using judging or scoring systems.
- Sweepstakes represent the chance-based sector of the market. Participants enter to win a prize, and organizers select winners at random rather than based on performance or judging. Since skill is not a requirement, companies can open participation to the widest possible audience.
- Promotional games are based on this model, transforming it into an interactive digital campaign. Brands use websites, mobile apps, and social platforms to create games that reward players with entries, points, or prizes for participating. In this way, brands promote their products or services. This replaces the traditional single-prize drawing.
The Main Drivers Behind the Projected Market Growth
The February 2026 industry report, published by Business Research Insights, provides more than just a projection of the future size of the contests, sweepstakes, and promotional games market. It also explores what structural factors are driving the expansion.
Overall, the growth appears to be the result of a changing trend in how companies engage with their audiences online. Contrasting with the passive approach of the past, when consumers merely consumed products or services, many businesses now actively engage with customers through digital marketing strategies.
As consumers increasingly prefer campaigns that are engaging and experiential rather than purely promotional, marketers have turned to interactive promotions on social media and mobile platforms as a central part of their approach.
In addition to the growth of digital marketing campaigns, clearer regulatory frameworks have helped strengthen public confidence in sweepstakes promotions. With clearer guidance available, companies now approach digital expansion with greater assurance.
Are Sweepstakes Casinos Included in the $12.31 Billion Market Projection?
Naturally, the projected figures raise a key question: If the report measures the global market for contests, sweepstakes, and promotional games, are U.S. sweepstakes casinos included in this $12.31 billion forecast?
To answer this question, it helps to begin with the defining feature of sweepstakes promotions themselves:
In a sweepstakes campaign, the prize is awarded based on chance rather than skill. Participants collect entries for a drawing, and the winners are chosen randomly by the organizers. The winners are not chosen based on how well they perform or what they submit.
Sweepstakes casinos also rely on chance to determine prize outcomes, with the difference being that the outcome comes from randomized game results and not a single drawing.
The similarity between the two systems only becomes apparent at the end when the prizes are awarded because both systems rely on chance. But the difference between the two begins much earlier in the process, which would be at the stage when entries are created.
Traditional sweepstakes generate entries through promotional activities, such as sign-ups or brand campaigns. Sweepstakes casinos, on the other hand, generate entries through gameplay in casino-style games.
It is this distinction in how entries are generated that helps explain how the market is defined in the Business Research Insights report. Although sweepstakes are a form of marketing promotion, the study primarily highlights their role as a method for brands to distribute entries through campaigns that engage and attract customers.
Sweepstakes casinos are positioned slightly outside the structure delineated in the report. Instead of brands distributing entries through promotions or advertising campaigns, the entries are obtained through activity on a casino-style platform.
A 2025 report from KPMG explains that this model grew out of social casinos and usually relies on a dual currency setup, where one virtual currency is used to play the games and another promotional currency can later be exchanged for prizes.
Because the Business Research Insights study focuses on sweepstakes used as marketing promotions, sweepstakes casinos are not broken out as their own category in the market segmentation. For that reason, the report does not state whether the revenue generated by sweepstakes casino platforms contributes to the projected $12.31 billion contests, sweepstakes, and promotional games market.
Key Factors Shaping the Future of the Sweepstakes Casinos Industry
In light of the recent explosive growth spurt of sweepstakes casinos in the last years, experts are now grappling with the question of what the sector’s trajectory will be from 2026 onwards.
As referenced earlier, a KPMG analysis that draws on Eilers & Krejcik Gaming research estimated that sweepstakes casinos will generate over $10.6 billion in gross revenue in 2024, surpassing $14 billion in 2025.
Part of this growth stems from the sector’s accessibility across the United States. Sweepstakes casino platforms operate in more than 35 U.S. states, whereas regulated online casino gambling is only available in a few jurisdictions.
However, in 2026, the industry will increasingly operate under regulatory scrutiny. In several states, lawmakers are examining whether sweepstakes-based gaming should remain under promotional sweepstakes laws or fall under broader gambling regulations.
Consequently, future projections are now centered on regulatory outcomes. Concurrently, analysts observe that sweepstakes casinos persist in deriving benefits from operating within markets devoid of regulated online gambling. This factor alone is expected to support continued growth in the coming years.
