# Instant Winner Sweepstakes for Canadians

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instant-winner-sweepstakes-for-canadians/128449>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 14, 2002, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instant-winner-sweepstakes-for-canadians/128449 "2002-09-14T20:25:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Alzarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@Alzarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alzarian)\
**Post date:** [September 14, 2002, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instant-winner-sweepstakes-for-canadians/128449/1 "2002-09-14T20:25:37Z")

</div>

So I buy a packet of M&M’s and apparently i’m not a winner, but being bored i read the official rules, which got me to wondering:

How come the rules for many of these contests state that Canadians will be required to complete a mathematical test in order to collect their prize. Is this a device to ensure that the player wins due to skill and not sheer luck?

Also, what is it with Quebec? Oftentimes it seems that residents of Quebec are not eligible to win at all…

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![MannyL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@MannyL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MannyL)\
**Post date:** [September 15, 2002, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instant-winner-sweepstakes-for-canadians/128449/2 "2002-09-15T18:59:13Z")

</div>

Different laws in Qubec than the other proviences. Also afair games of chance are illegal in Canada so to prevent it form being called a game of chance they add the mathmetical test which is a test of skill.