CLICK AND DOUBLE CLICK:ARE YOU FEELING LUCKY?

There are plenty of sites on the Internet for fun and games -- and winning. These are not gambling sites; these are geared to sweepstakes and lotteries.

Warning: Many of these sites ask for your e-mail address. This would be a great place to give a free e-mail address -- not your home e-mail -- because they will correspond with you often. I like the feature on my free Yahoo! e-mail account where I can easily block a sender.

www.luckysurf.com

Do you like to play the lottery, but don't like to pay out the money? Here's a place you can take a chance once each day without costing you a dime. You do have to register to play, which includes giving your e-mail. They call themselves a lottery-like sweepstakes.

The site launched in September 1999, and according to PC Data Online, it's the 16th most visited site in the world.

You pick seven numbers and then click on an advertiser to see how you do. Now that's a clever way to make sure your banner ads get seen. Pick your own numbers, opt for computer pick or the site will reuse your last numbers if you so choose.

It will e-mail you with the numbers that won the next day. Because everyone can enter only once each day, they say the odds are even. (Sure, everyone shares 80-million-to-1 odds.)

You can also look at historical drawing statistics, which will tell you what numbers are the hottest and coldest. You can also check how lucky your lucky number is.

www.iwon.com

This is a different kind of site that offers a prize, because it's a search engine similar to Yahoo!

Every time you click on something at the site, it gives you more entries. I clicked around about 10 minutes for my column and had 100 entries, which was my daily limit.

The site boasts of giving away $10,000 daily, $1 million every month and $10 million once each year on Tax Day. To date, the company says it's given out more than $21 million.

You can look at winner statistics by region, state or entry. There have been 11 winners from Missouri, as opposed to 71 from California, including one $10,000 winner from Jackson, Mo., last December.

www.ezsweeps.com

This site can link you over to a number of sweepstake sites, including one that determines a $5 million winner by his or her birthday. You have to enter this contest by the end of June, and the prize will be awarded July 5. I like the FAQs for this site: If you have a pulse and a birthday, you can win. EZSweeps keeps a personal portfolio for all your sweepstakes entries.

Remember when you're filling out all these forms that the tab key will take you easily between information boxes. You don't have to click in each one.

Once activated, your RoboHound will search out free sweepstakes you can enter each day. I chose one contest with a VW as a prize. I think anyone who's ever owned a VW has a soft spot in his or her heart. Mine was bright canary yellow.

www.mysweepstakes.com

This is another sweepstakes site that allows you to enter a number of contests in a single place. They award prizes every month and then a grand prize. The next grand prize drawing is July 6.

In addition to the contests, there are also some free online games to play.

Again when you register, you have to click on the banner of an advertiser. Pretty slick way to guarantee hits. They encourage you to enter once each week.

www.webmillion.com

I like this site's pitch: Join us now. You'll like being rich. I could get into that.

There are a number of ways to win, that is, if you'll share your e-mail address. The big prize is $3 million -- not too shabby.

You can pick a lite member or full -- both are free but the latter includes a free e-mail account to send you messages. For the $3 million, you can enter once each day with the lite membership. Pick six numbers from 1 to 94.

There are also other games to play including trivia and hangman.

www.winfreestuff.com

This site highlights contests that other commercial Web sites are conducting. You can see by the listing that online companies love contests. So do I.

Click on the online company at the left, and their contest moves to the top of your current page. It's easy to enter. Just share that all-important e-mail address.

Good luck. If you win, remember where you heard about these contests. We can do lunch, or a new VW would be nice.

See you in Cyberspace.

Joni Adams is the webmaster at Southeast Missouri Hospital. You can e-mail her at click@semissourian.com or jadams@sehosp.org.