McDonald's Monopoly
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The McDonald's Monopoly game is a sweepstakes advertising promotion of McDonald's and Hasbro that has been offered in the United States, Canada and Australia. In recent years, Best Buy has been involved in the U.S. version and recently in the Canadian one as well. It has also gone by various other names including "Monopoly Best Chance Game" (2003-05, the first years of Best Buy's involvement) and "Monopoly/Millionaire Game", a version based on the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire TV show.
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[edit] Gameplay
The game mimics the game of Monopoly. Originally, customers received a set of two tokens with every purchase but now tokens only come with certain menu items. Tokens correspond to a property space on the Monopoly board. and when combined into color-matched properties, the tokens may be redeemed for cash or prizes such as video games and portable CD players (though the 2006 U.S. game was for cash only). Historically, the grand prize has been the combination of the two most costly properties, Park Place and Boardwalk, but in a 2006 game the grand prize was awarded for collecting the four railroads. In order to restrict the availability of the top prizes, one property in a set is rare. There are also "instant win" tokens the recipient can redeem for McDonald's food (typically small menu items such as a free hash brown or ice cream sundae), cash or other prizes.
[edit] Rare pieces
The rare collectible pieces, the ones that dictate the odds of winning, are:
| Property | 2006 code | 2006 prize | 2005 code | 2005 prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mediterranean Avenue | 3601 | $50 | 5001 | |
| Vermont Avenue | 3604 | $500 | 5004 | |
| Virginia Avenue | 3608 | $1,000 | 5008 | |
| Tennessee Avenue | 3610 | $1,500 | 5010 | |
| Kentucky Avenue | 3612 | $5,000 | 5012 | |
| Ventnor Avenue | 3616 | $10,000 | 5016 | |
| Pennsylvania Avenue | 3620 | $50,000 | 5020 | |
| Boardwalk | 3622 | $1,000,000 | 5022 | $1,000,000 |
| Short Line | 3626 | $5,000,000 | 5026 | Dodge Viper |
[edit] History
In 2001, the U.S. promotion was halted after fraud was uncovered. The subcontractor hired by McDonald's to organize and promote the game, Simon Marketing (a then-subsidiary of Cyrk), failed to recognize a flaw in its procedures, and the chief of security, Jerome P. Jacobson,[1] was able to remove the "most expensive" game pieces, which he then passed to associates who would redeem them and share the proceeds. It turned out that almost all of the grand prize and top prize winners over several years, including contests McDonald's held that did not have the Monopoly theme, had been participants in the scheme, netting more than $24 million. At first only eight people were arrested, but in the end 51 individuals were indicted,[2] and the relationship between McDonald's and the promotions company broke down in a pair of lawsuits, eventually settled out of court.[3]
In 2003, McDonald's resumed its Monopoly games in the U.S. with new precautions. Game tokens are provided on selected food items and through the mail by sending a self addressed stamped envelope. In the 2006 U.S. version, guaranteed win pieces guaranteed either $1 or $5 in Best Buy credit.
[edit] McDonald's Monopoly Game scandal
The McDonald's Monopoly scandal in the U.S. resulted from the revelation in 2001 that an employee of Simon Marketing, the promotion company that had been responsible for administering McDonald's contests, had actually been using proxies who were given the winning contest tickets and claiming the prizes instead of ensuring that the pieces were distributed to the general public. The fraud was perpetrated without McDonald's knowledge, but McDonald's voluntarily offered to pay out new contest prizes to its customers to compensate for the prizes misappropriated by the promotion company. It also appears that only one key employee of the promotion company, and not its management, perpetrated the fraud. Despite the name, the fraud was perpetrated with all of McDonald's contests, and not just the popular one based on the game of Monopoly. It is believed that about $13 million (U.S.) was embezzled in this manner from 1995 to 2001.
[edit] McDonald's promotional contests
Like many merchants, McDonald's offered prize money contests to draw customers into its restaurants. State lottery rules generally forbid a company from administering its own contests, in order to prevent fraud and to ensure that all the offered prize money is paid out. McDonald's had a long standing relationship with Simon Worldwide Inc., which was responsible for the distribution of the contest pieces and the payment of major prizes.
McDonald's contests were almost all based on a "collection" basis, in which more than one contest piece had to be collected to win a prize (although some contest pieces were "instant winners"). Contests of this sort generally make one or more contest pieces rare, so that it is difficult to find, printed in very small quantities under secure conditions and then mixed with the more common pieces to ensure they are randomly distributed to the customers.
[edit] The fraud
It appears that once Simon had the key pieces printed, only a portion of them were released into regular distribution channels. As these key pieces represented the only way to actually win a prize, possession of them virtually assured a prize. However, as employees of Simon were forbidden by law to win prizes (as were employees of McDonald's), a series of proxies (generally friends and family members of the Simon employee involved) were engaged who would be given the piece, claim the prize, and split it with the Simon employee involved. It appears the employee most directly involved with the security arrangements for the key pieces was the mastermind behind the fraud.
Although McDonald's was not involved in the fraud, it came under a great deal of criticism for what appeared to be lax oversight of the promotion company. The fraud was eventually uncovered when one of the participants informed on its ringleaders to the FBI.
[edit] The arrests
On Aug 22, 2001, CNN reported the first eight arrests: "Jerome P. Jacobsen, 58, the ring-leader; Noah and Linda Baker, both 49, of Westminster, South Carolina; John F. Davis, 44, of Granbury, Texas; Andrew M. Glomb, 58, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Michael L. Hoover, 56, of Westerly, Rhode Island; Ronald E. Hughey, 56, of Anderson, South Carolina; and Brenda S. Phenis, 50, of Fair Play, South Carolina."[4]
[edit] Update
In May 2005, the widow of Stanley Warwick, one of the persons indicted in the scheme, sued McDonald's to continue the twenty annual payments of $50,000 Warwick allegedly won in 1999. These payments were discontinued in 2001 when Warwick was indicted for conspiracy to commit mail fraud. The charges were never brought to trial before Warwick's death in 2003.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Official American McDonald's Monopoly site
- Official Canadian McDonald's Monopoly site
- Statistical analysis and 2006 game hints
- List of Rare Pieces for 2006
- Canadian Monopoly Game 2006 Information
- Games back on menu at McDonald's
- Four convicted in McDonald's scam
- A Place To Trade McDonald's Monopoly Stamps
