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| The Rising Stakes of Web Site Sweepstakes |
| By Jillian J. Davis
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| April 18, 2000
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The winner of a much talked about online sweepstakes offered by iWon.com has the kind of background that makes a great news story.
By entering iWon.com's content portal to read news, check the weather and send e-mail, Lee Truong, a 24-year-old college student from San Jose, Calif., won $10 million Saturday night, and got his 10 minutes of fame on a live prime-time television special broadcast by CBS.
Truong, whose name was chosen from four finalists, said afterwards he planned to give much of the money to his parents, who fled Vietnam in a boat shortly before the fall of Saigon in 1975. His parents reportedly work seven days a week operating a restaurant and karaoke club in San Jose.
The giveaway raised not only the profile of Truong and his family, but also shined the spotlight on iWon.com, CBS, an investor in the firm, and the growing practice of Web sites giving stuff away.
By offering sweepstakes, iWon's formula has helped make it one of the Internet's busiest sites, where visitors also can read news articles, search for Web pages and send electronic greeting cards.
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