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In times of turmoil, it’s important to remember that all Americans are united by one shared
dream: the dream of Steve Harvey showing up on our doorstep with a large novelty check
from Publishers Clearing House.
You see, more than 55 million Americans enter some form of sweepstakes or contest every
year, and these promotions net around $2.8 billion annually for the companies that host
them, which might make some of you think “gee, that’s a lot of work for poor Steve Harvey,”
but the smarter of you might think “gee, those figures kind of pale in comparison to
the $71 billion dollars that Americans spend on the lottery annually—I mean, really,
why don’t these companies just host lotteries instead?
Aren’t sweepstakes just convoluted lotteries?
Is this a setup for a long explanation of American lottery law?”
Well, in order to answer those questions, we first need a long explanation of American
lottery law.
Right, so, by definition, a lottery has three key components: a winner chosen by chance,
a prize that has value, and the exchange of money or something of value to enter.
Now, only state governments can legally run lotteries, so in order for private businesses
to run contests legally, they need to eliminate one of these components.
Most do this by eliminating the third—the entry fee.
Businesses generally attach their sweepstakes to the purchase of a product, but provide
a free method of entry in the fine print.
Yep, that’s right—any legal sweepstakes in the United States can be entered for free.
That time you suffered through sixty-five boxes of dry, tasteless animal crackers only
to win a lifetime supply of more animal crackers?
You could’ve done that for free—kind of.
In reality, most of these “alternate methods of entry” require divulging tons of personal
data that can then be packaged and sold to telemarketers who will haunt you for the rest
of your life, so, really, they’re only free if you don’t value your sanity, or lost
it altogether sometime maybe around March 2020.
Now, this loophole might work wonders for money-grubbing Yanks, but it doesn’t quite
cut it up north—or down south, actually, if you live in Detroit.
Canadian law prohibits “disposing of any property by lots, cards, tickets or any mode
of chance” whatsoever—theoretically, this means no lotteries, no sweepstakes, and no
gambling on the outcome of underground chimpanzee wrestling matches even if the underground
chimpanzee wrestling matches provide a free method of entry in the fine print.
However, bigger Minnesota, also called Canada, still wants to run contests so, since the
19th century, Canadians have tried to subvert these laws by adding small tests of skill
to their lotteries and sweepstakes as a qualification for claiming the prize, which means that they’re
not technically games of chance—y’know, sort of like how pizza isn’t technically
a vegetable, or spending your entire paycheck on Half as Interesting t-shirts isn’t technically
a good idea.
Up until a few decades ago, private businesses and the Canadian government constantly went
to court over what did and didn’t count as a game of skill.
For example, guessing beans in a jar—according to the Ontario High Court of Justice, that’s
a skill.
Peeling a potato—not so much.
Estimating the time that it would take for a barrel to float down a river—pure skill.
Answering questions about the city of Montreal—nope.
Answering questions about the city of Montreal with the correct answers given to the player
before they respond—shockingly, also a no.
Sniping a turkey from fifty yards with a rifle?
Well, this should be obvious: of course not, what sort of early 20th century gentleman
can’t snipe a turkey from fifty yards with a rifle?
This squabbling finally came to a head in 1984, when a Canadian court approved a simple
math equation as a suitable test of skill for sweepstakes and lotteries: (((228 x 21
+ 10,824) / 12) - 1,121).
Go on, I’ll give you a few seconds to do some quick maths.
Just pretend like your ownership of a brand-new luxury catamaran depends on it, but also,
feel free to pause the video and use a calculator, because, much like the Canadian Competition
Bureau, I have no way of monitoring when, where, and how you solve the equation.
Also, much like the Canadian Competition Bureau, I really don’t care that much.
Alright, time’s up!
Did you get 180?
I really hope you did, because this was about as easy to cheat on as online AP tests.
Anyway, this case set an important precedent and four-part math equations were adopted
nationwide, regulating the largest national lotteries and the smallest local giveaways.
Over time, these problems have gotten even simpler, sometimes only using three parts
and single-digit numbers, or even asking contestants to divide by 1.
But, after all, basic arithmetic isn’t quite as simple as sniping a turkey from fifty yards
with a rifle, so it’s still possible to screw up—though that doesn’t necessarily
mean that you lose the prize.
In fact, a cursory search of Google finds just one example of someone who even came
close to being punished for failing a skill-testing question.
The woman in question won a GPS in a 2007 Tim Horton’s giveaway, and was asked to
solve 8 x 6 - 5 + 9.
She gave the answer of 51.
Tim Horton’s asked her to submit a different answer, but, feeling satisfied with her first
answer, she submitted 51 again.
Tim Horton’s denied her the GPS at first, but after submitting several complaints over
the course of two months, she eventually got her prize anyway.
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