For those who may not be familiar with this hobby, we thought we'd take a moment to explain.

On the face of it, it's probably obvious that it is the entering of sweepstakes. However, a few things that are not obvious:

• Along with a wide variety of random drawing type sweepstakes, there are also skill contests such as writing, video production, cooking and much much more.
• There is a very large community of individuals who participate in sweepstaking as a hobby on a regular basis. There is also an informal organization that assists in organizing annual national conventions.
• Sweepstakers span the entire spectrum of age, from pre-teen to individuals in their 90s.
• The sheer number of sweepstakes and contests running at any given time is astronomical. In the 10s of thousands for the US alone.
• There are those who have won 17 vehicles (current record for single individual), others have won an island, many have won houses, trips, cash, electronics, etc.
• This is a hobby; most sweepstakers hold full-time jobs, are retirees, stay-at-home moms, students, etc and just spend as much of their spare time as they see fit.
• Sweepstakers are consumers and make a point of purchasing and supporting the product sponsors who provide them with this phenomenal hobby.