Stroh

By petition for a writ of mandate, the Coors Brewing Company (Coors) seeks to invalidate an amended regulation of the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (the Department) that effectively will prohibit alcoholic beverage licensees from continuing to conduct promotional contests in which cash prizes are given to consumers. Coors contends that the regulation (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 4, § 106), which we will refer to as rule 106, must be struck down because it exceeds the scope of its enabling statute, Business and Professions Code section 25600. (Further section references are to the Business and Professions Code unless otherwise specified.)

At issue in this case is Coors’s use of sweepstakes to promote its products. A sweepstakes is a contest in which a “prize is or may be awarded to the winner.” (Webster’s 3d New Internat. Dict. (1986) p. 2309.) In Coors’s sweepstakes, consumers who purchase certain products, or who send in self-addressed stamped envelopes without buying the products, receive entry cards listing a toll-free 800 number. By calling the number, the consumers may enter the sweepstakes and, by following the instructions, are notified whether they have won…