You may already be a winner! These people are; they make it their business to win sweepstakes

By: ALLEN G. BREED The Associated Press

While lining his parrot's cage with the local newspaper, Ron Haines spotted something: an ad for a sweepstakes sponsored by Michelin, the tire company.

The grand prize was a Dodge pickup. But every tire dealer in the promotion area would also give away a set of chrome Delgado truck wheels. Retail value: about $2,000. Those beauties now glisten in Haines' garage, and the only luck involved was catching that ad. The rest was doing some legwork and following the rules.

``The official rules are the bible for entering, and that's where people go wrong,'' says Haines, a furniture maker in North Carolina.

In the past 4 years, he and his wife, Lynn, have won 78 sweepstakes. Some prizes were trifles - a T-shirt, a Thermos, a first-aid kit. Others were biggies - a Chevy Silverado pickup and matching ProCraft bass boat.

For $300 a year in postage, the Haineses' success may seem impressive. But 78 wins wouldn't even get them onto the parking lot if there were a sweepstaker hall of fame. ``Sweepstakers who do it on a regular basis expect one prize a week - at least,'' says Nita Hodgkins of Derry, N.H., publisher of the ``Rags to Riches'' newsletter. ``I know at least three $1 million winners. ''

Winning a sweepstakes can be as easy as knowing how to enter, and those in the know like Hodgkins are happy to show you the way. Across the country, they gather to swap stories. They belong to clubs with names like the Wolverine Winners, the Chesapeake Crabs and the Sin City Sweepers (in Las Vegas).

Some subscribe to the 50 or so newsletters that list even obscure contests. Others log into the dozens of Web sites.

They're not interested in those mass-mailed ``You may already be a winner! '' promotions. Hodgkins, the Haineses and others like them are scanning supermarket aisles for product hang tags or the offer on the candy wrapper.

Sponsors are taking note.

Shelby Jones is managing director of promotions at Don Jagoda Associates in Studio City, Calif., which runs sweepstakes for name brands of bleach, charcoal and salad dressing. The number of contests her company runs has increased about 20 percent in five years.

In fact, the contests have created a class of ``professional sweepers. '' Todd France, vice president of sales and marketing for Career Sports Management Inc. in Atlanta, showed up to greet the three winners of a Disney World lunch with ex-Dallas Cowboys tight end Jay Novacek. Two were clad from head to toe with products they'd won in other sweepstakes.

Many devotees spend thousands of dollars each year on postage for entries. Hodgkins says one woman sold blood to buy stamps, ``like alcoholics do for booze. ''

``It's gambling, really,'' says Mark Williams, a Louisiana state auditor and coordinator of the Dixieland Winners in New Orleans. ``You can either spend it at a casino and try your luck there, or you could try the lottery,'' Williams says. ``Actually you've got better odds of winning a sweepstakes. ''

How to make a clean sweep Tips to improve chances in sweepstakes:

* Follow rules to the letter. A 4-by-8 postcard means exactly that.
* Make entry cards out of boxes from the sponsor's product. It catches their eye and saves you money. If a contest calls for entries on odd-sized paper or written in all block letters, enter more often. Harder requirements mean fewer entrants.
* Prizes may be taxed. Don't enter for something you can't sell, like a trip, unless you can afford to pay the taxes.
* The shorter the entry window, the better the odds.
* Set a postage budget.
* Stagger entries throughout the life of the contest.
* Print legibly. Judges toss entries they can't read.

(Sources: ``Winning Ways'' newsletter at www.onlinesweeps.com; Ron Haines, sweepstaker; Jackie Lewis, spokeswoman for Puget Sound Clams club.)

- The Associated Press
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