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skill-testing question
DCHP-2 (Jul 2016)
n. — Law
a question posed to the winner of a contest so that it can be classified as a game of skill rather than of chance.
Type: 1. Origin — Skill-testing questions are usually simple arithmetic problems posed to winners of promotional contests as a way to work within gambling laws (see also the 2000 and 2007 quotations). Since a court ruling in 1984, the posing of such a question is a legal requirement enforced by the Competition Bureau of Canada, but the expression was in use earlier, as the quotations demonstrate. Other acceptable skill tests include estimating the number of beans in a jar, and estimating the future temperatures of cities (see also the 2011 quotation and the Competition Bureau website). Canadians must also answer a skill-testing question when they enter international contests in which they are eligible to win (see the 2016 quotation).
Chart 1 shows that skill-testing question is almost exclusively used in Canada.
Chart 1 shows that skill-testing question is almost exclusively used in Canada.
Quotations
1962
If your name is selected you will be required to answer a skill testing question, and prizes will be awarded only to those answering correctly. The two first prizes will be awarded on a regional basis, but all other prizes will be awarded without reference to address of entrant.
1978
Entrants were required to jot down a few notes
explaining exactly why their secretaries were so valuable. Mr. Grant's answer (after he'd answered a skill- testing question [sic]) managed to get him a new color TV set.
1985
Here's what happened: There was a draw for one prize each Sunday at all 55 outlets. However, a second name was drawn in case the winner could not answer a skill-testing question or "if he/she was not identifiable or dead."
1990
A crucial point in a contest is a skill-testing question usually asked after your name has been drawn. Warren says a lot of people lose because they blow the question.
The promotions company will call to tell you your name has been drawn, says Warren, and arrange a time to ask the skill-testing question. In some cases, you can call the company back the next day for the question because it realizes most people are in shock when they learn their name has been drawn.
2000
"Do you really need my parents' name and signature, because I'm not sure if they're home," I said to an organizer, who was also kind enough to help me and all of the other young, mathematically challenged contestants with the skill-testing question (5 plus 20 multiplied by 4 then divided by 5).
2007
The Canadian court's stamp of approval paired with the simple nature of the question has made the four-part mathematics problem the de facto standard among product promotion sweepstakes.
It's also a standard in decline. In the past 20 years, expectations have lowered for Canadian sweepstakes winners. Today, many questions, such as the one used in Microsoft Canada's Xbox sweepstakes, have only three operations, and the tests rarely use numbers with more than two digits. Some questions use only single-digit numbers and ask contest winners to divide by 1.
[...]
When Katz's company reps test winners, they frequently just make up the problem on the spot, he said. Making the questions as simple as possible is natural, because you want the customer to be happy.
"We make it easy -- we want them to win," Katz said.
Kevin Weber, a gaming and advertising lawyer with Elkind & Lipton, says he always urges his clients to make the tests tougher, but not everyone listens. He doubts that the Canadian government will ever crack down on companies posing easy skill-testing questions.
2011
What's the point of the skill-testing question in contests? The 3 elements of illegal gaming are prize, payment and chance. Eliminate one of these and your operation may now qualify as a contest, rather than illegal gaming.
There are a few different options available to you in order to eliminate the element of chance or randomness from your contest. Under the Criminal Code of Canada, there are no offences which apply specifically to games of pure skill, subject to certain conditions being met, so a contest based on pure skill is one option for franchisors to avoid application of the Code to their contest. [...] It may come as a surprise to some, but we actually have case law in Canada which has instructed us on the sufficient degree of difficulty that a skill-testing question must have in order to truly constitute skill to complete it. This is why all or most skill-testing questions that you see in contests are four-part mathematical questions with 2 to 3 digit numbers employing the BEDMAS equation which we all learned in elementary school math classes.
2013
The B.C. SPCA had a booth where pet owners could get treats after spinning a wheel of fortune and answering a skill-testing question.
Sabrina Stecyk, an animal-care attendant, was handing out leaflets for Charlie's Pet Food Bank, which offers free pet food for people who can't afford to feed their pets.
2016
In Canada: If you are eligible to win a Coffee & Food Prize, complete Prize Claim Form II. Before being
declared a winner, Canadian participants must first correctly answer a mathematical skill-testing
question in Prize Claim Form II, and, together with their eligible Winning RIM TAB, present it to a
participating Tim Hortons restaurant for verification
In U.S.A.: U.S. participants are not required to answer a skill-testing question. Upon verification of the RIM TAB, a Coffee & Food Prize will be awarded.
In U.S.A.: U.S. participants are not required to answer a skill-testing question. Upon verification of the RIM TAB, a Coffee & Food Prize will be awarded.
References
- Competition Bureau
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