megapixels
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Rigondeauxams288
July 29th, 2018 at 11:34:49 AM permalink
Story

I'm not sure if this has been discussed before, but this article kind of makes it sound like McDonald's was the victim, but really it was the customers.
darkoz
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July 29th, 2018 at 2:18:28 PM permalink
Quote: megapixels

Story

I'm not sure if this has been discussed before, but this article kind of makes it sound like McDonald's was the victim, but really it was the customers.



Excellent article

Thanks for the link
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onenickelmiracle
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July 29th, 2018 at 2:27:05 PM permalink
I've probably mentioned it before and people probably thought I made it up. That and the lottery rigging and scratch off lack of randomness.
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ThatDonGuy
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July 29th, 2018 at 2:31:49 PM permalink
Little-known fact: when the St. Jude's ticket was announced, McDonald's replied, "Technically, we can't award the prize to St. Jude's as there's a rule against transferring game pieces. However, since nobody is going to win that million dollars anyway, we will donate one million dollars to St. Jude's." Of course, with the latter, McDonald's could write it off as a charitable expense.

Also, a few years ago, they started making the rare pieces the same from one game to the next. I assume it's to prevent someone from combining pieces from different games and claiming a win, although all of the "rare" pieces now have phone numbers on them to call for the instructions on how to claim the prize. (Before then, a winner had to go to a McDonald's and ask for a redemption envelope; there was one color for prizes under $500, and one for $500 and over. It never occurred to anyone that having someone go into a restaurant where quite a few of the people there are working for minimum wage and advertising that they had just come into a lot of money was not a bright idea.)
darkoz
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July 29th, 2018 at 2:33:01 PM permalink
Its interesting that this was a 12 year conspiracy involving dozens of people many found at random

And no one squealed for a decade

But on another thread about shufflers with beast mode setting the common agreement is no conspiracy of that size would either be possible or last long
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billryan
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July 29th, 2018 at 4:53:50 PM permalink
I remember when that million dollar ticket was donated to St Judes. What an inspiring tale, at the time.
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AZDuffman
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July 30th, 2018 at 2:46:40 AM permalink
Quote: ThatDonGuy

Little-known fact: when the St. Jude's ticket was announced, McDonald's replied, "Technically, we can't award the prize to St. Jude's as there's a rule against transferring game pieces. However, since nobody is going to win that million dollars anyway, we will donate one million dollars to St. Jude's." Of course, with the latter, McDonald's could write it off as a charitable expense.



They would be writing off the expense either way, the tax implications are a net zero difference. From a legal standpoint though, I can see why they would do it that way.

Pepsi had a game back in the 1980s where you had to spell "Pepsi Spirit" to win I forget how much, maybe $5,000 then. In some areas they held back the "E" and in others the "T." It was bottler by bottler, and you could not use "foreign" letters. One guy sent his mother a short letter and got upset when her bottler would not cash it.

Later they had a "name game" where you spelled your last name and got $5 per letter, vowels held back. People sold them in pennysaver papers for $5-10. I think I got $10 for selling a couple. Word was some guy had some weird Asian name with no vowels and tried to clean up as there was no limit, but they tried to and IIRC did stiff him.
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rxwine
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July 30th, 2018 at 4:37:40 AM permalink
Aside from the actual swindlers, it was also mentioned the prize company executives retriggered the random selection software if a big winner came up in Canada. At least in 1995 and perhaps beyond.
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rxwine
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July 30th, 2018 at 4:43:08 AM permalink
So, what's the lesson here? Never fully trust the most trusted person with years of good service especially if he's got his hand near the till all the time.
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Nathan
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July 30th, 2018 at 5:21:21 AM permalink
I was wondering why I haven't seen the McDonald's Monopoly game in a couple of years now. :/ Their free food such as free McFlurry and free French fries were the bee's knees. :)
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ams288
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July 30th, 2018 at 5:41:36 AM permalink
Somebody needs to get the movie rights for this story to Martin Scorsese, ASAP.
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Romes
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July 30th, 2018 at 9:07:48 AM permalink
Quote: ams288

Somebody needs to get the movie rights for this story to Martin Scorsese, ASAP.

I would definitely watch this.

Yeah I ended up reading that entire story, and it was a great story. I always thought the McDonald's games were rigged, as I'm sure others had the same feelings, but I was like "why didn't anything ever come of this?" but the article explained why... Great read and would recommend.


"Got any tickets?" - lol at least the guy's got a sense of humor.
Playing it correctly means you've already won.
onenickelmiracle
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July 30th, 2018 at 9:18:31 AM permalink
Quote: AZDuffman

They would be writing off the expense either way, the tax implications are a net zero difference. From a legal standpoint though, I can see why they would do it that way.

Pepsi had a game back in the 1980s where you had to spell "Pepsi Spirit" to win I forget how much, maybe $5,000 then. In some areas they held back the "E" and in others the "T." It was bottler by bottler, and you could not use "foreign" letters. One guy sent his mother a short letter and got upset when her bottler would not cash it.

Later they had a "name game" where you spelled your last name and got $5 per letter, vowels held back. People sold them in pennysaver papers for $5-10. I think I got $10 for selling a couple. Word was some guy had some weird Asian name with no vowels and tried to clean up as there was no limit, but they tried to and IIRC did stiff him.

I liked the pepsi promotion back in the 80s, when you opened a bottle(glass back then), they had cash values you won. It would just say 25c or 50c, and you would get the money for them.
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onenickelmiracle
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July 30th, 2018 at 9:25:34 AM permalink
What concerns me about the game and the scandal, seems like after it was revealed it was rigged, the big prizes seemed to not be as valuable. I remember the green ones being for things like a dream house worth $250,000-$400,000(something like that), then later seeing it was $25,000 or something. I don't know if the number of prizes increased or not. Seems odd if not true, for the company to be giving less when it wasn't rigged. I also wonder how the company went from giving free cards to placing them on certain items. Obviously they require a purchase, they have a costly mail in method to get free game pieces, but before that, they didn't. Things like this, you wonder why they changed, were regulations changed to allow them a better method from their perspective, or did the company just become less fearful of regulators during this time.
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beachbumbabs
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July 30th, 2018 at 9:43:27 AM permalink
Quote: onenickelmiracle

What concerns me about the game and the scandal, seems like after it was revealed it was rigged, the big prizes seemed to not be as valuable. I remember the green ones being for things like a dream house worth $250,000-$400,000(something like that), then later seeing it was $25,000 or something. I don't know if the number of prizes increased or not. Seems odd if not true, for the company to be giving less when it wasn't rigged. I also wonder how the company went from giving free cards to placing them on certain items. Obviously they require a purchase, they have a costly mail in method to get free game pieces, but before that, they didn't. Things like this, you wonder why they changed, were regulations changed to allow them a better method from their perspective, or did the company just become less fearful of regulators during this time.



I remember that dream house promo, too.

However, the last year I was really paying attention, and they had the smaller value prizes, they had gone from 2 $1M prizes to 10 of them. So maybe they budgeted to the big prizes at the expense of the medium one.

The year we really chased it was 2007 or 2008. A group of us were making chow runs there a couple times a day and sharing all the tickets. We didn't get any decent prizes, but we JUUUUUST missed one, because a couple hours before I went by one night, the national prize patrol had been to MY McDs and handed someone in line an instant million.
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MaxPen
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July 30th, 2018 at 9:46:42 AM permalink
Anywhere there is a big pot of money you can be sure someone somewhere is plotting how to get a piece. And many others are on the fringe trying to feed off any scraps that spill out.
rxwine
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July 30th, 2018 at 11:20:06 AM permalink
Quote: ams288

Somebody needs to get the movie rights for this story to Martin Scorsese, ASAP.



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Keeneone
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July 30th, 2018 at 12:39:20 PM permalink
Quote: rxwine

McRob (McRibb), The Real Hamburglar, Shamburglar, Scamburglar


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Romes
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July 30th, 2018 at 12:42:21 PM permalink
Quote: rxwine

McRob (McRibb), The Real Hamburglar, Shamburglar, Scamburglar

Quote: Keeneone

The Big Hack, Clowned, McNopolized, What a Kroc!

I'll have the McRip with the Off sauce and just a side of high cholesterol.
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AZDuffman
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July 30th, 2018 at 12:50:37 PM permalink
Quote: onenickelmiracle

I liked the pepsi promotion back in the 80s, when you opened a bottle(glass back then), they had cash values you won. It would just say 25c or 50c, and you would get the money for them.



At first you had to peel the liner off which was not easy. As a kid the $.25 seemed a big win. I never saw more than $.50.
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ThatDonGuy
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July 30th, 2018 at 4:13:29 PM permalink
Quote: Nathan

I was wondering why I haven't seen the McDonald's Monopoly game in a couple of years now. :/ Their free food such as free McFlurry and free French fries were the bee's knees. :)


The fraud has nothing to do with not playing the game in 2017 - or in 2015, for that matter. Also note that in the 2016 game, at least in the USA, all of the non-food prizes were cash.

I think they skipped it last year to concentrate on rolling out the new $1/2/3 value menu and the new "chicken selects," although they "sort of" had a lottery last year; being able to get the limited supply Szechuan sauce, almost certainly riding the publicity from Rick & Morty, and then making a quick profit on eBay.
billryan
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July 30th, 2018 at 5:48:26 PM permalink
MacCoins are going to be YUGE!!!!!!.
Buy them by the dozen. Feed the homeless.
$3.79 for a Big Mac and a MacCoin. Sell on eBay for a quick profit or wait until the exchanges explode.
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lilredrooster
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July 31st, 2018 at 12:41:17 AM permalink
so very many things in our society are crooked or wrapped in lies. people don't even expect to here the truth anymore.

𝐁𝐔𝐘𝐄𝐑 𝐁𝐄𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐄
the foolish sayings of a rich man often pass for words of wisdom by the fools around him
rxwine
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July 31st, 2018 at 12:26:33 PM permalink
If you were to do a very simple analysis over that company that was running the Mcdonald's monopoly game, you can see it only required a breach between the officer and his 1 auditor.

Only 1 layer of security over a mult[-million dollar value in that part of the chain of custody. The officer achieved that breach going into the bathroom where the auditor couldn't observe.

There should be multiple layers along every part of the whole chain. I didn't notice whether they sued the bajesus out of that company for negligence, but seems they should of.
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terapined
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July 31st, 2018 at 1:08:49 PM permalink
Quote: rxwine

If you were to do a very simple analysis over that company that was running the Mcdonald's monopoly game, you can see it only required a breach between the officer and his 1 auditor.

Only 1 layer of security over a mult[-million dollar value in that part of the chain of custody. The officer achieved that breach going into the bathroom where the auditor couldn't observe.

There should be multiple layers along every part of the whole chain. I didn't notice whether they sued the bajesus out of that company for negligence, but seems they should of.




Reminds me of the Sochi Olympics
Urine samples stored in a locked secure room.
KGB drill a hole in the wall.
Person slips dirty urine to KGB through the hole, KGB gives back clean urine through the hole
Russia has best winter Olympics ever

Icarus documentary on Netflix exposes all this
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darkoz
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July 31st, 2018 at 5:03:12 PM permalink
Quote: rxwine

If you were to do a very simple analysis over that company that was running the Mcdonald's monopoly game, you can see it only required a breach between the officer and his 1 auditor.

Only 1 layer of security over a mult[-million dollar value in that part of the chain of custody. The officer achieved that breach going into the bathroom where the auditor couldn't observe.

There should be multiple layers along every part of the whole chain. I didn't notice whether they sued the bajesus out of that company for negligence, but seems they should of.



Yes at end of article it says company went bankrupt from this scandal
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FleaStiff
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July 31st, 2018 at 7:58:02 PM permalink
Olympic urine samples, Tour de France bicycles with batteries, motors, lead weights in water bottles, McDonalds game pieces and a breach by one or two trusted employees, ... just look at that 18 year old the cops just got at LAX having just stolen umpteen zillion BitCoins by simcloning the various owner's phones as they traded bitcoins on some exchange. He almost made it out of the country but wasted time on a spending spree first.

Makes me think of that cop taking a complaint: Diogenes filing a stolen lamp report.
FCBLComish
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August 1st, 2018 at 11:49:14 AM permalink
I used to work with Michael Hoover. He was a Pit Manager at Foxwoods at the time. I remember vividly when he was arrested for this.
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ams288
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tringlomane
August 2nd, 2018 at 12:24:18 PM permalink
Quote: ams288

Somebody needs to get the movie rights for this story to Martin Scorsese, ASAP.



Well, that was fast.

The film rights have been snatched up.

It's not Martin Scorsese who will be directing (sadly), but Ben Affleck. Matt Damon will likely star.
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casinoplayer42
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August 16th, 2018 at 8:04:05 PM permalink
Quote: ams288

Well, that was fast.



It's not Martin Scorsese who will be directing (sadly), but Ben Affleck. Matt Damon will likely star.



hahaha!
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