Can A Grab Bag Be A Sweepstakes?

When I hear the words "grab bag," I think about stores that used to stock plain wrapped packages labeled as either for "boys" or "girls." For a dollar, you could choose one of these packages without knowing what it contained. While the value of the items inside the bags were all approximately the same, the appeal of the grab bag was the hope that your selected package contained some extra special toy – something you'd really like to have. Like a sweepstakes, it was this sense of risk and anticipation that made grab bags so popular.

"Grab bags" have been defined in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as a bag that holds many small gifts and that you reach into in order to pull one out without knowing what it is. But more recently, grab bags have taken on a new definition under some state laws: illegal gambling.