TikTok Shop has revised its gambling regulations multiple times since late May, specifically targeting break formats that resemble lotteries, while simultaneously enhancing its own auction product, Surprise Sets, across categories like beauty, electronics, and toys.
As of September 25, TikTok now permits random team breaks, a card-breaking style often associated with lotteries, but only through its controlled Surprise Sets feature. A card break involves a live sale where buyers acquire shares of trading card boxes, which are then opened on camera. In a random team break, participants pay for a spot and are assigned a sports team at random, receiving any cards drawn for that team.
Surprise Sets, TikTok Shop's unique auction mechanism, allows buyers to bid or purchase without knowing the exact item they will receive, with the outcome determined by TikTok's software and disclosed post-sale. Since April, the platform has broadened the scope of Surprise Sets from just trading cards to encompass a wider range of merchandise. In September, it also relaxed previous restrictions on how prize values could be distributed within a set.
These updates are reflected in the evolving versions of TikTok Shop’s US Gambling Policy, Collectibles Policy, and Live Auction Requirements. A comparison with archived versions from the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine reveals that TikTok does not maintain a changelog, so the dates mentioned correspond to the last updated timestamps on each page.
The revisions come amid ongoing legal challenges from breakers—livestream sellers who open sealed card packs on camera and sell spots. These lawsuits are testing the legality of card breaks as potential lotteries.
The initial version of the Gambling Policy on May 27 prohibited three break formats: random card breaks, draft-style breaks, and bounty breaks. By June 25, this list expanded to eight formats, including random team breaks, draft-style, bounty, pull games, points programs, train games, king of the hill, and HP battles.
The June 25 update still permitted random team breaks if conducted through a manufacturer-sealed surprise set. However, the August 31 version removed this allowance, stating that random team breaks are now exclusively available through TikTok Shop’s Surprise Set feature, limited to eligible sellers. Team assignments must be generated using TikTok's official randomization tool, and no external methods are allowed.
This update also banned raffles for unsold spots and restricted blind-box promotions to those recognized as blind boxes by the platform. TikTok's August seller bulletin, Policy Pulse, briefly noted these changes without elaborating on the Surprise Set option.
Notably, Surprise Sets were introduced before the recent regulatory changes, having launched in October 2025, and are available to a select group of eligible sellers. Earlier versions of the Collectibles Policy did not mention Surprise Sets, but by April 7, the feature was described as an auction product where the exact items purchased are revealed after the auction concludes.