CONTEST RULES/PRECEDENTS
Do you need contest rules/precedents
for a Canadian contest?
We offer many types of Canadian contest/sweepstakes law precedents and forms (i.e., Canadian contest/sweepstakes law precedents to run common types of contests in Canada). These include legal precedents for random draw contests (i.e., where winners are chosen by random draw), skill contests (e.g., essay, photo or other types of contests where entrants submit content that is judged to enter the contest or for additional entries), trip contests and more.
Also available are individual Canadian contest/sweepstakes precedents, including short rules (“mini-rules”), long rules, winner releases and a Canadian contest law checklist.
For more information and to order see: Canadian Contest Forms and Precedents.
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OVERVIEW OF SKILL-TESTING QUESTIONS
FOR CANADIAN CONTESTS
Skill-testing questions are usually, but not always, required to run a promotional contest in Canada. They are commonly required and administered to potential winners before being declared a winner to avoid the illegal lottery offences under the Canadian federal Criminal Code.
In general, the Criminal Code prohibits games of chance or mixed chance and skill where entrants pay money or other consideration (i.e., something of value) to the contest sponsor to win a prize.
Including a skill-testing question is one way to remove a contest from many of the lottery offences under section 206 of the Criminal Code that include pure chance as one of the elements of the offence (i.e., a way to remove some of the chance in an otherwise pure skill contest via the skill of a reasonably difficult skill-testing question).
Contest sponsors commonly require potential winners to answer a two-digit four-step mathematical question as a condition of winning a prize. This requirement is based on a 1980s Canadian contest law case.
As such, including a skill-testing question is a common strategy by contest sponsors to convert an otherwise pure chance contest (many of which are prohibited under section 206 of the Criminal Code) into one of “mixed chance and skill” so that if consideration is then also removed, running a contest becomes low risk of violating the illegal lottery offences under section 206.
In other cases, promoters sometimes operate “pure skill” contests (which are generally not addressed by the relevant lottery sections of the Criminal Code, other than in some cases under section 206(1)(e)) or award prizes that are not listed in the relevant Criminal Code sections as one way to require a purchase as a condition of participation.
It should be noted that even if a contest is one of pure skill, section 206(1)(e) of the Criminal Code (discussed above), must also be avoided. Section 206(1)(e) prohibits, among other things, paying money for a chance to win a larger amount of money and includes both chance and skill contests.
The existing Canadian case law under the Criminal Code’s illegal lottery sections (sections 206(1)(a)-(f)) is, however, generally old, inconsistent and generally does not apply to many modern contesting structures.
For this reason, conservative contest sponsors generally remove two of the three elements of an illegal lottery to be safe (i.e., by removing consideration through a bona fide “no purchase” entry option and including a “skill-testing question” to remove part of the chance element to convert a contest into one of mixed chance and skill).
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CANADIAN CONTEST & ADVERTISING LAW SERVICES
We are a Toronto based competition and advertising law firm that offers business and individual clients efficient and strategic advice in relation to Canadian competition and advertising laws, including contests/sweepstakes and other types of promotions. Our experience includes advising Canadian and U.S. clients in relation to Canadian contest/sweepstakes, advertising/marketing and competition/antitrust laws.
For more about our contest/advertising law services see: here
To contact us for Canadian contest or advertising law advice see: here
For more information about our firm, visit our website: Competitionlawyer.ca