Why nobody ever wins the car at the mall • Hacker News Board

Re: Why nobody ever wins the car at the mall

#31

Post by mschuster91 » Tue, Jun 26, 2018, 7:54 AM UTC

svilen_dobrev wrote: post #11

pff, there was some movie long ago, some technician was installing a few 1-armed-bandits in some pub, and asked the owner - should they give 1 win per 100, or 1 per 1000 ? And the owner answered: What? 1 per 1000? We're not a charity here, there must be zero wins!

Having worked in casinos and actually owning a real, unrestricted gambling machine (for laughs, tbh): that's bullshit. Gambling works because there is always, always some machine that is paying out money. This one machine is sufficient to get all other patrons to throw more and more money at them.

Sometimes all hell breaks loose and multiple or all machines pay out. The joke is that most gamblers won't cash out and go home - they will "reinvest" their entire win in hope to win more... and the really desperate ones throw even more "fresh" money at them.

Re: Why nobody ever wins the car at the mall

#32

Post by coldtea » Tue, Jun 26, 2018, 7:55 AM UTC

Animats wrote: post #9

Since this is a California on-site thing, California sweepstakes law applies.[1] - "The exact nature and approximate value of the prizes must be disclosed clearly and conspicuously when they are offered." - "The law prohibits the company from misrepresenting the odds of receiving any item offered." - Prohibited: "Failing to award and distribute all prizes of the value and type represented." Online complaint form here…

>Prohibited: "Failing to award and distribute all prizes of the value and type represented."

They can't mock-award it to someone of their own?

Re: Why nobody ever wins the car at the mall

#33

Post by cornholio » Tue, Jun 26, 2018, 7:56 AM UTC

Animats wrote: post #9

Since this is a California on-site thing, California sweepstakes law applies.[1] - "The exact nature and approximate value of the prizes must be disclosed clearly and conspicuously when they are offered." - "The law prohibits the company from misrepresenting the odds of receiving any item offered." - Prohibited: "Failing to award and distribute all prizes of the value and type represented." Online complaint form here…

The car is surrounded by posters that read "Enter to win" above a picture of a white vehicle otherwise similar to the blue car physically present.

There is absolutely no doubt that ideogram promises a chance to win the car in exchange for the registration.

Re: Why nobody ever wins the car at the mall

#34

Post by oldcynic » Tue, Jun 26, 2018, 8:00 AM UTC

Theodores wrote: post #17

The TV giveaways are also a con. You know the deal, you watch the whole show because the competition details will be given at the end. Then the questions are multiple choice and rather easy. For example, where is the final stage of the Tour de France? Option a) Peterborough, option b) Potters Bar, option c) Paris. In this semi-fictional example if you get the answer right then you could get to win a bicycle shaped ob…

All to make it a game of skill and not run an illegal lottery.

I assume Ofcom or IBA before them put no effort into enforcing so the programmes just felt free to turn it into a lottery with a question only the dog will get wrong.

In the olden days of answers on a postcard to... yes, some of those were actually difficult questions. That was in the days that Brit TV still tried hard to avoid becoming commercial trash and even the commercial channels were quite restricted: Caps on game show prizes, no naming of prize manufacturers - even when you can clearly see it's a Ford, cash values were capped even lower than prize values.

Who Wants to be a Millionaire wouldn't have been allowed a few years previously. Now every show seems to have their own illegal lottery and we have product placement. :)

And we no longer have a TV!

Re: Why nobody ever wins the car at the mall

#35

Post by NLips » Tue, Jun 26, 2018, 8:03 AM UTC

DanBC wrote: post #22

Theodores wrote: post #17

The TV giveaways are also a con. You know the deal, you watch the whole show because the competition details will be given at the end. Then the questions are multiple choice and rather easy. For example, where is the final stage of the Tour de France? Option a) Peterborough, option b) Potters Bar, option c) Paris. In this semi-fictional example if you get the answer right then you could get to win a bicycle shaped ob…

If anyone wants to listen to an example of a somewhat difficult quiz programme they could try Brain of Britain - a long running radio show on BBC Radio 4. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00813s0 I don't know if it's geo-blocked, or if there's anything available for download. But they do have written questions too.

This show is verging on ridiculous for me - I am so out of my depth listening to it. But I appreciate that the BBC produce it for those who like it.

Other quizes of various difficulties include University Challenge, and Mastermind. Both have a priceless prize for the winner.

Re: Why nobody ever wins the car at the mall

#36

Post by ehnto » Tue, Jun 26, 2018, 8:09 AM UTC

starpilot wrote: post #23

Animats wrote: post #9

Since this is a California on-site thing, California sweepstakes law applies.[1] - "The exact nature and approximate value of the prizes must be disclosed clearly and conspicuously when they are offered." - "The law prohibits the company from misrepresenting the odds of receiving any item offered." - Prohibited: "Failing to award and distribute all prizes of the value and type represented." Online complaint form here…

Why haven't they all been shutdown if they are clearly illegal? Also, I've seen these across the country.

There's generally no one doing the work basically. A gym I went to had notoriously bad competitions and advertising. It was never the "last memberships available" and there wasn't actually "10 days left" the counter just changed back on the final day. No one ever got the prizes either, they just never announced a winner, and a new competition started the same day. People still signed up by the hundreds.

Hundereds of formal complaints by people from the gym to the ombudsman and consumer affairs over more than five years amounted to literally nothing. They still do everything they used to.

Even more seriously, they didn't pay their employees superannuation, and it took years to even start the process of sorting that out.

As these car competitions are run by private businesses and not the car manufacturers my guess is they are simply too small of a fish to go after.

Now, just last week that same gym was implicated in a drug trafficking ring. But that's a different department of law enforcement...

Re: Why nobody ever wins the car at the mall

#37

Post by analogmemory » Tue, Jun 26, 2018, 8:09 AM UTC

My dad signed up for one of those sweepstakes back in the '90s. They called and said he won a "prize" but he had to come into view a "presentation". Went to the "presentation" where they tried to hustle him to signup for a timeshare. He resisted and they gave him the "prize", which was a knockoff boombox.

That boombox is still alive, my mom uses it in the garage when she's doing gardening. I'm pretty sure the company that gave it to us is long gone. Life finds a way?

Re: Why nobody ever wins the car at the mall

#38

Post by Cthulhu_ » Tue, Jun 26, 2018, 8:09 AM UTC

coldtea wrote: post #32

Animats wrote: post #9

Since this is a California on-site thing, California sweepstakes law applies.[1] - "The exact nature and approximate value of the prizes must be disclosed clearly and conspicuously when they are offered." - "The law prohibits the company from misrepresenting the odds of receiving any item offered." - Prohibited: "Failing to award and distribute all prizes of the value and type represented." Online complaint form here…

> Prohibited: "Failing to award and distribute all prizes of the value and type represented." They can't mock-award it to someone of their own?

I'm fairly sure there's federal laws that forbid that. Of course, it's not a crime if you don't get caught. Plus there's a small sub-story in the article about someone that did win a Tesla, but couldn't afford the taxes they had to pay to actually get it.

You can win a car but you have to be able to pay taxes and insurance for it, too.

Re: Why nobody ever wins the car at the mall

#39

Post by thirdsun » Tue, Jun 26, 2018, 8:10 AM UTC

throwaway0255 wrote: post #19

I used to know someone who worked for one of the companies behind those "We'll Fix Your Credit Score, Call Us" and "We'll Buy Your House, Call Us" signs on the side of street intersections (among other things), and I asked her to explain to me how those signs could possibly make any money. The way she explained it was (mostly her words), way less than 1% of people are dumb enough to dial the number, but of the people…

It's the same logic that drives absurd spam mails. They want the kind of people that consider a nigerian prince that needs your help to share his wealth with you as a legitimate opportunity.

Re: Why nobody ever wins the car at the mall

#40

Post by Cthulhu_ » Tue, Jun 26, 2018, 8:10 AM UTC

MatthewWilkes wrote: post #15

Amusingly, the website this article is hosted in pops up a modal asking you to sign up to a mailing list with a low contrast dismiss button and saying "you can always unsubscribe". People in glass houses.

At least they're not saying you could win a car.