The Contest Center - Privacy Statement

Privacy Statement

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PRIVACY STATEMENT
The Contest Center
59 DeGarmo Hills Road
Wappingers Falls, NY 12590

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INFORMATION COLLECTED

       The Contest Center collects the following information about players in our contests:
» Name
» Postal address

       For players in ongoing contests we may also maintain information about the player's status in that contest, including the following:
» Number of times the player has entered
» Number of entries currently active
» Number of entries currently pending
» Number and/or total value of prizes won
This information is necessary for the operation of these contests.

       For players who subscribe to our newsletters we maintain the following information:
» Expiration date

       For players who have won prizes we maintain the following information:
» Payment date
» Check number
» Amount won
» Backup withholding, if any

       For players who have won larger amounts, we are required by the IRS to obtain and record the following:
» Taxpayer ID number (usually Social Security number)

       All of the foregoing information is maintained in computer files, and sometimes in paper records in our office. Nobody other than the owner of the Contest Center has access to these records.

       For people who contact us by email, we keep the email address during the course of correspondence. The Contest Center does not keep email addresses in permanent files, except for a small number of players who correspond regularly.

       The Contest Center does not maintain demographic or personal data about our players, such as age, gender, occupation, income, etc. The Contest Center does not keep the telephone numbers of our players. The Contest Center does not collect or keep credit card numbers.

USES OF THIS INFORMATION

       The Contest Center uses the information above for the following purposes:
» To mail newsletters to our subscribers
» To mail contest puzzles and results to our players
» To announce new contests
» To reply to email inquiries
» To report winnings to the IRS, as required by law

       The Contest Center does not sell, rent or lease this information to other parties.

       The Contest Center does not send any form of bulk email (commonly called "spam"), does not hire others to send bulk email for us, and does not maintain, purchase, rent or lease lists of email addresses.

       The Contest Center does not engage in telemarketing, does not hire others to do telemarketing for us, and does not maintain, purchase, rent or lease lists of telephone numbers.

TRADING LISTS

       From time to time the Contest Center may trade mailing lists with other contest sponsors, or similar businesses. The information traded is restricted to the name and postal address of the player. No other information is traded.

       The Contest Center sometimes rents commercial mailing lists for the purpose of promoting our contests by direct mail. The Contest Center does not keep any record of the names and addresses of people on these lists unless they enter our contests, or otherwise contact us themselves.

REMOVAL

       Any person who wishes to be removed from our mailing lists may write to us at our postal address, which is found at the top of most pages in this website, in our newsletters, and in nearly all of the material we mail. We will also honor requests from third parties if we believe that party is expressing the will and intent of the player.

       There is no guarantee that removal is permanent, since we may acquire the name and address again from another source. The Contest Center cannot remove names from mailing lists that we rent or purchase from list brokers.

WEBSITE

       The Contest Center website does not place any files on the user's computer, such as tracking software (commonly called "cookies").

MINORS

       The Contest Center does not maintain information about the ages of players in our contests, or others on our mailing lists. We believe that there are currently no minors on our mailing lists, but do not have any means of verifying this.

       Based on information volunteered in correspondence from our players, we believe that most players are seniors, and estimate that the median age of players is approximately 70.

       We require minors to provide the written permission of a parent or guardian before they are eligible to play in our contests. This has occurred only in rare instances in the past, and none of the people involved are currently active or on our mailing lists.

       We believe that there is no prurient material on our website, and that none of the links on our website connect to sites having such material. We quickly remove any material or link which is reported to us, or which we discover to be objectionable on these grounds. The email link at the bottom of most webpages on the site can be used for such reports. (You must change the $ sign in the email address to an @ sign. This has been done to reduce the amount of unsolicited commercial email that the Contest Center receives.)

Questions? We welcome questions about our rules and policies, as well as suggestions, criticisms and other comments about our contests, or about other contests. Just click at left to email us.

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