Okay, I don’t think this was answered anywhere else on this website…
It is a pretty innane question though.
So here goes.
My friend reminded me of a few years ago when McDonalds was having one of their many promotions, you peeled something off the fry container and either won something or got a “please play again” type message.
I remember winning a few hamburgers in this contest, but the weirdest stipulation was that you had to complete a skill testing question to recieve your hamburger.
Generally, when you take part in a promotion and win something, you have to complete a “SKILL TESTING QUESTION”. These questions are usually very easy and perhaps only ensure a five year old doesn’t win.
So what’s the point of the “Skill testing question”?
Is there some rule/law somewhere that requires a skill testing question to recieve a prize?
Are you in Canada? Other Canadopers have posted in the past that lotteries and sweepstakes and other such “games of chance” are illegal in Canada, so to give away prizes the winner has to answer a question so that it’s a “game of skill.” Usually it’s some easy math question like 2+2=?
I don’t think any state has similar “games of skill” regulations although every contest like that run in the US has a disclaimer on its ads that says “void where prohibited by law.”
Games of chance being illegal is iffy, because we have a few casinos in Ontario. Most notably Casino Niagara. We have horse racing too, and quite a few lotteries as well. 649, Proline, Lottario, etc, etc, etc.
Your answer does sound good though. I figured it might be added to make it a “game of skill” rather than a game of chance.
It points out just what Otto said. Apparently, in Canada, it is illegal to hold an unlicensed lottery. If your game is based on chance, such as the McDonald’s promotion described, where the prizes are given at random, then it will be seen as a form of lottery. But if the contest includes some element of skill, then it becomes a game of skill. I would assume that games of skill need not be licensed like casinos, lotteries, and racetracks, although the item does not explicitly say so.
I would guess that the important point is that while casinos, lotteries, and racetracks are all licensed to operate games of chance, McDonald’s, and other places that operate contests as marketing promotions, are not. To get around that, they operate a game of skill instead.
As Otto pointed out, and the linked item will attest, they are often simple arithmetical questions. I’ll add that instead of such arithmetical skill testing questions, the toughest question I’ve ever had to face when I cash winning horse racing tickets is “How do you want that?”
Yup, Spoons and Otto are right. I’m in Ontario too, and used to work sort of indirectly with the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation. All the casinos and racetracks are registered with them, as are any of those big charity lotteries like the Princess Margaret, Heart & Stroke and CNIB ones. If you see ads for the charity lotteries (or for Casino Rama or Niagara) on tv, you’ll notice at the bottom they’ll have the same little OLGC symbol with the triangle and the little balls that you see in ads for 6-49.
It’s a fair bit of effort to get yourself approved by them, so especially in cases like McDonalds or any other nation (or world) wide chain where they would have to jump through the various hoops of each different state, province, etc that they want to run the promotion in, you’ll usually find they go the game-of-skill route.
As funny as it might sound, ticket dispensing arcade games fall under the same guidelines. Many places circumvent it with the “Mercy ticket” option (the game will always dispense at least 1 reward ticket per play. For any games there has to be a skill aspect to it, some of them are live in a very, very, dark grey area of the rules.
Actually, I doubt that McDonald’s could get a lottery licence even if they tried. Only government-run lotteries and charities can get lottery licences, and only on the condition that they then plough the money back into good works, such as alleviating the scourge of Princess Margaret, Heart & Stroke, etc. I don’t think a business could get a lottery licence.
I bet they could if they tried hard enough, especially if they worked the Ronald McDonald House angle. Where there’s a giant, world-domineering corporation there’s a way.
I’m sure you’re right, though, that for the most part sticking the skill-testing question on is the only way.
