A sweepstake is a method of gambling in which each person pays a small amount of money and is given the name of a competitorbefore a race or contest. The person who has the name of the winner receives all the money.
sweepstake in British English
(ˈswiːpˌsteɪk) or especially US sweepstakes
noun
1.
a.
a lottery in which the stakes of the participants constitute the prize
b.
the prize itself
2.
any event involving a lottery, esp a horse race in which the prize is the competitors' stakes
Often shortened to: sweep
Word origin
C15: originally referring to someone who sweeps or takes all the stakes in a game
Examples of 'sweepstake' in a sentence
sweepstake
Dan & I have a sweepstake going as to what time they'll come out.
Bénédicte Newland and Pascale Smets AND GOD CREATED THE AU PAIR (2005)
`We had a sweepstake ,' she told me gleefully, `and guess who won?