A Brief Explanation of International Contest Laws
Contest law varies [greatly] between different countries. If you were
to open up a contest to people all over the world, you would have to
research the law in every single country on earth, to avoid getting
yourself in legal trouble. For a typical promotional contest, this is
just too much work. The legal fees for the required research would be
much more than the payoff of the promotion. Additionally, there are
some problematic legal questions inherent in any international contest.
For example, if something were to go wrong, -- say, the prize was lost
in shipping -- what court would the contest winner go to? It would be a
very tough legal question just figuring out who had jurisdiction.
What it comes down to is that it's just too much work for a company to
find out how to cover themselves, legally, in multiple countries and in
all states. After all, the typical rules and regulations of a contest
running only in the United States take up 20 or so paragraphs. Just
think how small a company would have to make the print to cover itself
internationally!
Don't just throw out the word 'discrimination' because you don't understand something. Google is your friend.