this post was submitted on 09 Oct 2024
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I don't get it
"A chance to win" can mean that chance is very little, almost impossible for you to accomplish, but that 'chance' is enough to make that phrase legally accurate. Think gacha games.
They could create a system that picks one person out of the millions that do it, and then still make a random number generator pick a number that they have to choose out of 1000, and it would still mean that "You have a chance" to win. Sure, a chance, like, but at what odds, and that's only if they were actually checked if it was true.
We all know there was never a chance.
As I understand it these are basically an insurance policy. The promoter takes out a policy detailing the odds of a payout being required, and pay a premium based on the insurer's risk assessment.
And of course the insurer wants to minimise the odds of paying out, and the promoter wants to minimise their premium - so the top prize is usually, as above, near-unwinnable.
At most one person gets it... :)
In the US, especially in the 90's, there were a lot promotional mailers, TV ads, and so on to prey on people's desperation and ignorance that were sent out that would say that the person has "a chance to win $1M!" or "may have already won!"
Of course, I've never heard of anyone who actually won anything from them. It was probably just a data collection thing or asking people to send $20 to enter the fake lottery, I'm not sure. But, I have to admit, I did join a lot of those because I was a kid and I thought it'd be fun or easy and my dad would humor me by going through the process—or, at least, pretend that he did. We never won anything though.
Thank you, this explanation was very helpful!