IANAL, but although you're based in Germany, there are important legal constraints for running a "raffle" in the United States. (e.g. http://www.rafflefaq.com/united-states-raffle-laws/ )

You can't do it arbitrarily, especially for one that's online with a nontransparent winning process.

Hey guys,

thanks for the input!

I just love to build stuff and working on cool pet projects is what I am doing with a lot of my free-time. After I realized how many people also have cool ideas but can't execute I got the idea.

I have no intention of ripping off people, etc. I just like to build things and I want to enable people to also appreciate this.

Signing up with the email is just a means to make sure people don't claim more tickets without a lot of effort. As the other comment said, free 'raffles' are not a problem in Germany, however, you are right, I should prob make even clearer that I am just all about building something cool.

These rules exist in Germany, too. You are pretty safe as long as you keep it free, but the conditions of participation are still a bit lacking:

http://t3n.de/news/internetrecht-15-haufigsten-fehler-gewinn...