DL: YOAMD Pamplet. Weird Fine Print.

[prettyprincessbelle]

If this has been discussed, please please point me in the right direction!

A couple weeks ago my DBF and I went to pick up my Mom at the Burbank airport. While waiting for her, we stopped by the little stand that has all the brochures and pamplets for different SoCal attractions, you know the ones they have at hotels and stuff.. Well of course the first one I grab is the DL one.. On the cover is Mickey in his YOAMD outfit.. I'm sure you guys have seen them before, they also have them at the Disney Store on the stand that sells DL tickets and such..

So last night I was reading the first page and it just talks about the YOAMD, the Dream Suite, winning Dream FPs and blah blah.. So I continue reading the fine print on the bottom.. It first says it's only open to residents of the US, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Japan and the UK.. It talks about no purchase necessary and that the giveaway starts January 1, 2008 through December 31st, 2008.. It talks some more about mail in entries.. And then the very last line on the bottom says this:

For residents of Canada, a mathematical skill question must be correctly answered to win ANY prize.

Does anyone know why?! I know for Dream FP's, lanyards, and Mickey ears they just hand them out and don't ask for personal info.. So if a Canadian family is chosen to spend a night in the Dream Suite and they give the Disney CM's their info, they find out they live in Canada, and then they ask them a hard math question, and they get it wrong, they don't win?

Am I the only one totally confused about this??

 

[bumbershoot]

I've read that it has something to do with contests needing to be skill-based in Canada. And that the math question is pretty simple. It's in the wording for all contests that allow Canadian participants!

 

[prettyprincessbelle]

So it's some Canadian law with contests?! It better be easy! The way they said "mathematical skill" makes me think it's some hard crazy number question..

 

[DangerMouse]

I've heard the "skill question" for Canadians is actually quite easy.

 

[Rachael Q]

The reason we have to answer a skill testing question in Canada is sweepstakes are illegal; the Canadian Criminal Code bans for-profit gaming or betting, with exceptions made for provincial lotteries, licensed casinos, and charity events.

The law does however allow prizes to be given for games of skill. In order for companies to run sweepstakes they incorporate a mathematical skill testing question. This then makes the sweepstakes a contest based on skills, and not chance based.

The reason a math question is used, vs say a history question, is that math has no language barrier. A court decision ruled that these must contain at least three numbers to actually be skill testing; eg. 50 + (100 x 2) = 250

 

[prettyprincessbelle]

Thank you guys for clearing that up!!! That totally makes sense now.. Atleast it's pretty easy too.. Thank you!

 

[Macy Bear]

Hmm. That is very odd. I never knew that.

 

[PrincessKell]

I knew they did this, but I never knew why. Thank you for actually letting us know!

 

[arliepooh68]

okay so curiosity abounds. . . how hard are these math tests????

 

[heatherleigh]

I have never heard of that before. How interesting. I guess it would just seem a little unfair if someone with a mental handicap was selected.

 

[safetymom]

The company I work for conducts seminars. We have giveways. The math question was always something like how much is 1 plus 1. Very easy.

 

[BraMax]

The questions are usually like 5+5x2/5 . I know it seems so stupid. The questions are required for the big prizes I believe not DF and DE and that sort of stuff. But I know if you do the mail in entry that if a Canadian wins that they will call and have you answer the skill testing question (not that I have won but others have). We also don't have to pay taxes on our winnings either. So some good some bad I guess.

 

[CupidsKiss]

I suppose I should pack a calculator in mypark bag too...would hate to miss out on the suite

 

[jory29]

Hmmmm,
Remember BEDMAS rule for math...
I once had to fill out a math question for a Canadian contest, and the BEDMAS rule had to be applied in order to correctly answer the question.

Here's a link that describes the mathematical order of operations that may be required in a contest that had a mathematical skill based question.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_operations