The lists can be bought from sweepstakes companies and direct-mail businesses.

Richard claimed falsely that he was from American Family Publishers, the big sweepstakes company, and that she had won $2 million.

And the sweepstakes companies, which can keep up to 90 percent in commissions on the subscriptions, are also trying to reverse their losses.

For their part, the sweepstakes companies keep 75 to 90 percent of a publication's subscription price.

Soon competition between the two major sweepstakes companies began to heat up.

But with the need to keep readership as high as possible, there is little incentive for publishers to sign up with just one of the sweepstakes companies.

The sweepstakes companies had some strong years in the early 1990's but whether they can pull out of their general downturn is not clear.

Many state attorneys general have filed lawsuits against large sweepstakes companies.

The controversy has caught the attention of three Florida legislators who plan to introduce a bill this month that would require sweepstakes companies to disclose more information about their rules.

USAT leads with renewed efforts by state regulators to find ways to curtail the deceptive sales practices of sweepstakes companies.