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From: Brian Kantor <brian@ucsd.edu>
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Does a 900-number Make a Sweepstakes a Lottery?
Message-ID: <5311@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 17 Mar 90 14:23:34 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 182, Message 1 of 12


I received one of those "you may have already won" calls on my voice
mail at work the other day (in fact, so did everyone else in the
office!) that told me that all I had to do to find out I was a winner
was to ring up their 900 number and they'd be happy to enter me in the
contest.  The call would cost me $10.

(This one was a typical machine-delivered message, and if originated
in California, was illegal since it did not start with a human asking
me if I was willing to listen to the damn thing.  Sounded like they
hired some disk jocky to record it for them.  In fact, the whole thing
sounded like a radio contest.)

Since there was no mention of any other way to enter the contest, does
that make it a lottery and subject to all kinds of legal chastisement?

I've seen other "dial 900 to enter" contests, such as on MTV, but the
fine print always mentions that you can just send in a postcard and
enter for free as well.


	- Brian