In the terms and conditions of a keysight promotion to win an oscilloscope, I stumbled over the following sentence:
In accordance with local laws, if the selected entrant is a Canadian or South African resident, that entrant will be required to answer a mathematical skill-testing question, without assistance of any kind (whether mechanical or otherwise), within the time frame provided above.
What is/are the law(s) behind this, and what is that law trying to achieve?
From a blog entry by Canadian lawyers familiar with sweepstakes and contest laws:
In Canada, games of pure chance are prohibited as illegal lotteries under our Criminal Code...
For contests of chance, making prize redemption conditional on answering a skill-testing question turns a game of pure chance into a (legal) game of mixed chance and skill. Generally, a time-limited, multi-step and multi-operational mathematical skill testing question, answered without assistance, is sufficient.
That is under ยง206 of the Criminal Code of Canada - Offences in relation to lotteries and games of chance.
You will probably find similar statutes related to South Africa.
It's not uncommon to see "games of chance" turned into "games of skill" in order to avoid the creation of illegal lotteries.
