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Path: utzoo!lsuc!dave
From: dave@lsuc.UUCP (David Sherman)
Newsgroups: net.legal
Subject: Re: Canadian sweepstakes question
Message-ID: <958@lsuc.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 5-Dec-85 05:12:50 EST
Article-I.D.: lsuc.958
Posted: Thu Dec  5 05:12:50 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 5-Dec-85 08:13:52 EST
References: <7833@ucla-cs.ARPA>
Reply-To: dave@lsuc.UUCP (David Sherman)
Distribution: na
Organization: Law Society of Upper Canada, Toronto
Lines: 39
Summary: so it's not a "lottery"


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
-- 
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