wales@ucla-cs.UUCP (12/02/85)
I saw the following in the fine print of Time magazine's recent sub- scription renewal/sweepstakes offer: In order to win a prize, residents of Canada will be required to correctly answer a time- limited arithmetical skill testing question. Can anyone up north explain the rationale behind this seemingly bizarre requirement? Surely Time is not simply trying to encourage its Canadian subscribers to study math. :-} Would I be correct in assuming that the question referred to is probably on the order of "What's one plus one? Hurry, you only have one month to send in your answer!" or some such? -- Rich Wales // UCLA Computer Science Department // +1 213-825-5683 3531 Boelter Hall // Los Angeles, California 90024 // USA ARPA: wales@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU -or- wales@UCLA-LOCUS.ARPA UUCP: ...!(ucbvax,ihnp4)!ucla-cs!wales
mjc@cad.cs.cmu.edu (Monica Cellio) (12/05/85)
I'm told by Canadians here that it is illegal in Canada to have a contest
based totally on chance (I'm not sure what restrictions on this there are,
like whether various casino games are legal). Thus, the winner of a drawing
has to pass some other test, in addition to having his ticket drawn, that is
not based on chance. "What is 1 + 1" is sufficient.
-Dragon
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ARPA: monica.cellio@cmu-cs-cad or dragon@lll-crgdave@lsuc.UUCP (David Sherman) (12/05/85)
Rich Wales asks: > In order to win a prize, residents of Canada > will be required to correctly answer a time- > limited arithmetical skill testing question. > > Can anyone up north explain the rationale behind this seemingly bizarre > requirement? Surely Time is not simply trying to encourage its Canadian > subscribers to study math. :-} The Criminal Code prohibits lotteries except where they're specifically authorized by the government (I believe it's the provincial governments which can actually license them). Store, magazine and cereal box contests use the "skill-testing question" to avoid falling into the definition of a lottery (luck only, no skill). You're not in a lottery - you're participating in a CONTEST. So goes the logic, anyway. > Would I be correct in assuming that the question referred to is probably > on the order of "What's one plus one? Hurry, you only have one month to > send in your answer!" or some such? No. There was a case a few months ago where a prizewinner lost a major prize (several thousand dollars, at least - I forget the details) by getting the answer wrong. The prize went to someone else. Some of the contests actually print the question on the entry form. Most don't; I suspect that's stretching the legal definition somewhat, since arguably any(?) Canadian can, with time, find a calculator and solve the "problem". The ones I've seen are usually something like: Add 25 and 12. Multiply by 4. Subtract 100. Print answer here________. Sometimes the answer is something obvious like the current year. Dave Sherman The Law Society of Upper Canada Toronto -- { ihnp4!utzoo pesnta utcs hcr decvax!utcsri } !lsuc!dave
jimomura@lsuc.UUCP (Jim Omura) (12/05/85)
Re : Skill testing Questions for Draws in Canada
In Canada the Combines Investigations Act, which covers a lot of
trade practices, bans contests based on luck. The skill testing
question is allowed to qualify the contest as one based on "skill".
Lotteries and Charities, to anticipate your logical next question
are exceptions pursuant to special licencing provisions. Again, the
operative word is "charities" generally.
Cheer! -- Jim O.
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