Re: OT: Oh CanaDuh

On Thu, 25 Jun 2009 08:26:18 +0100, the renowned Martin Brown
<|||newspam|||@nezumi.demon.co.uk> wrote:

Spehro Pefhany wrote:
On Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:59:52 -0700, the renowned Joerg
<invalid@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Martin Riddle wrote:
From Tektronix's Sweepstakes rules....

7) Unless the sweepstakes is cancelled, during the week of September 28,
2009, one winner
will be randomly drawn from all sweepstakes entries timely received. The
winner will be
awarded one Tektronix MSO2012, approximate retail value US$3750.00. Any
Canadian
resident selected in the drawing must first correctly answer a time
limited mathematical
skill testing question before being confirmed as a winner. The prize
will be shipped to the
mail address provided on the sweepstakes entry form within 30 days of
being drawn.


Are they really that challenged up north?

This is pretty funny ;D

That can't be for real :-)

Got a link? Spehro must be fuming ...

Nothing strange at all... standard boiler plate for such "games of
chance" up here, including the Quebec exclusion which, I think, has
laws that exclude such gambling (no doubt the province wants a big cut
to allow it).

When I won a bicycle from Tim Horton's a few years ago I had to answer
a simple math question. They don't bother with the "skill testing
question" for low value prizes.

It is presumably to get around local legislation on unlicenced lotteries
and to make it a nominal game of skill vs game of chance. There is after
all still a remote chance that the lucky Canadian winner might not know
the answer to 2+2= or whatever the time limited mathematical question
actually is.

Apparently it actually went to court (an unlicenced game of chance)
about 25 years ago and that case set an upper bound on how complex the
question had to be to be acceptable. Nobody really wants the winner to
fail the test, so it often doesn't even meet that low standard,
especially for small prizes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skill_testing_question

Is the "no purchase necessary" boilerplate also unique to Canada?
There's usually some way (inconvenient and with some small cost such
as postage) to enter without purchasing anything from the company
involved so you can't really call it a lottery.

Someone famously managed to score nil on "Who wants to be a Millionaire"
after all.

It's nice winning a prize in Canada, as there is absolutely NO
withholding (in fact no tax at all) on the winnings (except for
professional gamblers). Of course when you put your $30M 649 jackpot
(hahahhah) into investments, the income will likely be taxable.

Same in the UK. Does the US tax lottery winnings?

Yes, as ordinary income, not capital gains (about the most
unfavo(u)rable tax treatment). Which seems unfair since the tickets or
whatever are not deductible generally, but I suppose the pols consider
such "windfall" money fair game.

Thanks for the question-- I had not thought about this-- had a strange
idea that it might have been legislation resulting from a mentally
deficient individual wot won a large prize rather than just typical
legal chicanery.

Regards,
Martin Brown


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
speff@xxxxxxxxxxxx Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com
.

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