An emerging driver of sweepstakes in Europe and Asia, short codes are often placed on the wrapper or inside the bottle cap of consumer packaged goods (i.e. candy bars, sodas). Users merely text in to the code to find out if they are an instant winner.

Moreover, premium SMS (SMS that is charged to the user phone bill beyond the standard text messaging charges -- the carrier will tend to share this revenue with the platform/content provider) is used as a revenue driver in more mature markets such as the UK, where users may text into a short code for a chance to win VIP tickets to see an artist, for example. Since this is technically a sweepstakes, a free method to enter the sweeps, such as a mail-in postcard, must be provided. Yet conversion rates in the UK seem to favor the SMS sweeps, with close to 65-70% participating in well-marketed premium campaigns at live events. (see ipsh! Live Events)