the "Official Rules"

[Ted Jay]

I guess most of you know about the Popular Woodworking Workshop Give-Away?

What I thought was a little amusing when reading the "Official Rules" for the contest, I came upon this little item::rolleyes:

Residents of Canada, in order to win, must first correctly answer a mathematical skill-testing question administered by mail or e-mail at Sponsor’s sole discretion..

Ted

[Nathan Conner]

Long standing Canadian anti-gambling law that makes it illegal to sell chances to win a prize. Thus, advertisers, sweepstakes, etc. will always offer a free method of entering each contest, and task every winner with a skill-testing question.

From the web: "Canadian courts have shot down skill tests consisting of shooting a turkey at 50 yards, or quickly peeling a potato, on the grounds that they're too easy. The four-part mathematics problem has become the de facto standard among product promotion sweepstakes."


Funny, but legal there, and if you want to get Canada sales, you have to include this in your prize offerings. It's in a lot of stuff, look around, it'll surprise you.

[Art Mulder]

Hey, don't be dissing our "time limited mathematical skill testing question" rules. It's practically a part of our culture! I wouldn't want to give it up.

But in all seriousness, it is often a bit of a "nudge nudge, wink wink" situation, since most contests that I've entered do not supervise the contestant when they do the math, so you know that 99.9% of the people just reach for the calculator.

I'm just grateful that these places actually go through the hoops to allow Canadians to enter these contests.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Art,

I'm so glad you replied to this. I thought when I first viewed this last night that it was a slam against Canadians. I debated moving or editing the thread. Now I find out it's for "real". I didn't want any Canadian viewers to be insulted.:o

[Jim Becker]

Contests like this have to follow the rules for any place they want to solicit participants from. I remember this well from a number of WOOD Magazine promotions over the years.

When you think about it, the Canadian approach isn't all the bad an idea...people actually have to do something over and above filling out a form, etc., to participate. If the questions or other qualifiers are thoughtful enough, it may even cause people to learn something. The Star Alliance anniversary contest that has been going on this summer is set-up similar...there are four or so questions that must be answered to enter and you actually have to do a little research to figure them out in addition to supplying your valid ticket number and travel dates!

[Art Mulder]

Art,

I'm so glad you replied to this. I thought when I first viewed this last night that it was a slam against Canadians.

Sure it's a slam... :cool: A slam by our government, so it's really a self-inflicted slam. :p Okay, so it really isn't any big deal. We're just used to it, and it's mostly just a formality. Here's the wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skill_testing_question) reference. And another from Wired. (http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2007/01/72511) It has a pretty good quote actually:

"the test is a hack of Canada's legal code by the promotions business. Canadian anti-gambling law makes it illegal to sell chances to win a prize, so promoters always offer a free method of entering each contest, and task every winner with a skill-testing question. By doing the latter, they argue, the game is no longer one merely of chance but a contest requiring some skill."

Quebec has it's own regulations, so Quebecers are often excluded from Canadian giveaways.

[Grant Wilkinson]

Of course, the biggest exception to the general rule are all the lotteries run by ..... you guessed it - the Government.

Charities can also do as they please, which is why every hospital in the country sends me requests to enter their lotteries.

[Ted Jay]

Sure it's a slam... :cool: A slam by our government, so it's really a self-inflicted slam. :p Okay, so it really isn't any big deal. We're just used to it, and it's mostly just a formality. Here's the wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skill_testing_question) reference. And another from Wired. (http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2007/01/72511) It has a pretty good quote actually:

"the test is a hack of Canada's legal code by the promotions business. Canadian anti-gambling law makes it illegal to sell chances to win a prize, so promoters always offer a free method of entering each contest, and task every winner with a skill-testing question. By doing the latter, they argue, the game is no longer one merely of chance but a contest requiring some skill."

Quebec has it's own regulations, so Quebecers are often excluded from Canadian giveaways.

Art,
Maybe they exclude the Quebecers, (or Quebecens?), because they don't think they can pass the tests????:eek: (now Ken.... that's a slam...:p )

Seems like typical Governmental thinking. We don't have legalized gambling here in Texas, but we do have the state run Lottery. We also have "Charitable" Bingo here in Texas, also run/overseen by the Texas Lottery Commission. Oddly enough, both games "skill-testing" requires picking out numbers.....:rolleyes:

Ted