I guess this is somewhat standard these days, huh? Have any of you guys entered something like this before, and if so did you ever get anything? I'm thinking Topps owes me some karma from my flunky of a box, so I might go ahead and burn a Forever on sending them out an envelope.
I would assume they do this offer for legal reasons, perhaps to appease some random state laws, or maybe there's a tax break in there somewhere. Or maybe they just want to be nice?
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The best part is the end about Canadians needing to answer a math question. WTF?! LOL. Topps screwing with Canadians. Hilarious. I'm surprised they didn't add a part about Guam residents needing to enclose a photo of their sister.
I'm pretty bad at doing math in my head, but I was able to summon the power of mental thinking and I'm pretty sure I deduced the correct answer without succumbing to using a calculator. But since I'm American, I guess it's a moot point. USA! USA!
I always wondered about that math question too. Luckily, the innerweb tubes tells us why the Great White North does what it does:
ReplyDeleteCanadian sweepstakes law, unlike American law, requires that the third component, "winners are chosen by luck," is removed. Sponsors cannot use pure luck to determine who wins a sweepstake. There must be at least some element of skill involved.
In order remove the element of pure chance, sponsors narrow the field of potential winners by requiring a skill testing question to enter their contests. Every entrant does not have the same chance to win; only those who at least pass the skill testing question are eligible to win prizes. Of course, this is only a technicality. Most people can pass the skill testing questions without difficulty, although sponsors are required to make the test somewhat challenging.
What Constitutes a Skill-Testing Question?
The courts have agreed that a four-part mathematical test such as "155 plus 33 divided by 2 minus 12" is enough to qualify as a skill-testing question.
An easy math testing question is the minimum required to hold a legal Canadian contest or sweepstakes. Some Canadian sweepstakes go a step farther and ask a trivia question or something a bit more difficult. Others are true contests, where the entrants are judged based on their skills.
Ah, good to know.. thanks for the research.. though I still like to imagine Topps just picking on Canada like a jerk.
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