Odd Sweepstakes

[cruelsister]

I'm not sure where to put this and it is too unusual not to share- Intel had some sort of sweepstakes for a CPU. It is only open to those who live in the following countries: USA, Canada (excluding Quebec), UK, France, Germany, South Korea, Japan, Mainland China and Taiwan. OK, fine. BUT then there is this little beauty of a statement in Terms and Conditions:

"Notification of Winners: The potential Winners will be notified by email and required to complete a prize fulfillment form. In order to be eligible to win any prize, potential winners who are CANADIAN RESIDENTS (caps mine) must correctly answer, unaided, a time-limited mathematical skill-testing question as posed by Sponsor."

What is up with that?

 

[vtqhtr413]

You've posted what seems to be the recipe for making sausage, let's hope few Canadians read that far, unbelievably insulting.

 

[Hawaii007]

The combined effect of Sections 197 to 206 of the Canadian Criminal Code bans for-profit gaming or betting, with exceptions made for provincial lotteries, licensed casinos, and charity events. Many stores, radio stations, and other groups still wish to hold contests to encourage more purchases or increase consumer interest. These organizations take advantage of the fact that the law does allow prizes to be given for games of skill, or mixed games of skill and chance. To make the chance-based contests legal, such games generally consist of a mathematical STQ.

The Promotional Contest Provision of the Competition Act also states that "selection of participants or distribution of prizes is not made on the basis of skill or on a random basis."

The most common form that these questions take is as an arithmetic exercise. A court decision ruled that a mathematical STQ must contain at least three operations to actually be a test of skill. For example, a sample question is "(2 × 4) + (10 × 3)" (Answer: 38). Enforcement of these rules is not very stringent, especially for small prizes. The player may not be required to answer the STQ to claim a prize. Anecdotally, getting the answer wrong is also often not an obstacle to claiming a prize. The questions are also becoming easier. For contests held in other countries but open to Canadians, a STQ must be asked of any potential Canadian winner.

The same section of law prohibits receiving consideration in exchange for playing the games, resulting in a related peculiarity of Canadian contests: the free entry alternative, which is usually indicated by "No purchase necessary" in the fine print. Generally this means that it is possible to enter the contest for free by, for example, writing a letter to the entity sponsoring the contest and requesting a game piece or entry form.

 

[Deleted member 178]

Canadians...can't they do like everybody else...