Why do Canadians have to answer skill-testing questions when they win sweepstakes? And why don't US residents have to, even when they win the same contest?

If you enter sweepstakes for Canadians, you'll often find a strange math equation on the entry form. You may notice a line in the rules that says something like:

"If a Canadian resident wins a prize, that person must also answer correctly within a 5 minute time period a mathematical skill-testing question without the benefit of any calculating devices, before the prize will be awarded."

That seems pretty strange. Why do Canadian residents have to answer skill-testing questions to enter or to win giveaways? Are sweepstakes discriminating against Canadians?

Skill-Testing Questions Aren't Discrimination — They're the Law

Many people wonder if the skill-testing questions are designed to prevent Canadians from winning as often as residents of other countries do.

That isn't the case. Canadian sweepstakes, and other sweepstakes that are open to Canadians, don't have skill-testing questions because the sponsors don't want Canadians to win. Those questions don't affect anyone's chances of being drawn as a winner.

Skill-testing questions are there because they are required by Canadian sweepstakes law.

If you've read the Introduction to Contests, Sweepstakes, and Lotteries, you know that lotteries have three major components: the prizes have value, the sponsor benefits from the sweepstakes financially, and the winner is chosen at random. In order to avoid being an illegal private lottery, at least one of the three components must be removed.

In the United States, the sponsor usually removes the financial benefit, also known as consideration, to avoid being classified as an illegal lottery. That is why most sweepstakes state in their rules that you don't have to pay to enter and that a purchase will not change your chances of winning.

But Canadian sweepstakes law requires that the third component, winners are chosen by luck, be removed for a giveaway to be legal. A giveaway cannot use pure luck to determine who wins. There must be at least some element of skill involved, according to the Canadian Competition Act.

To remove the element of chance, sponsors narrow the field of potential winners by requiring a skill-testing question to enter their contests. Every entrant does not have the same chance to win; only those who at least pass the skill-testing question are eligible to win prizes.

Of course, this is only a technicality. Most people can answer the skill-testing questions without any trouble. The skill-testing questions must be somewhat challenging, but they're not generally difficult.

What Are the Requirements for a Skill-Testing Question?

While an entrant shouldn't have to be a genius to answer a skill-testing question, that question can't be a no-brainer, either.

An easy math testing question is the minimum required to hold a legal Canadian contest or sweepstakes. Some Canadian sweepstakes go a step farther and ask entrants to answer a trivia question or another question that is a bit more difficult.

The Canadian courts have agreed that a four-part mathematical test such as "155 plus 33 minus four divided by 2" is enough to qualify as a skill-testing question, as long as winners are not allowed to use a calculator or other aid to answer the question. But many contests use even easier math tests for their skill-testing questions. These haven't been challenged in court so far.

Another option for Canadian giveaways is to hold a true contest where the entrants are judged based on their skills. Of course, winners of skill-based contests like recipe or photo contests don't need to answer a skill-testing question as well.

Which Sweepstakes Must Include Skill-Testing Questions?

Sweepstakes sponsors are required to ask all Canadian winners skill-testing questions. That means that not only do sweepstakes based in Canada have to ask them, but also any giveaway that Canadians can enter.

To simplify things, giveaways ask all of their winners to answer the skill-testing questions. This reduces the risk that they make a mistake and don't properly test a Canadian winner.

Controversy Over Skill-Testing Questions

Although they are designed to protect consumers, using skill-testing questions for Canadian giveaways has caused controversy on occasion. Many find them unfair.

For example, in 2008, Tim Horton's initially refused to award a GPS prize to a learning-disabled winner, according to this Globe and Mail article.

The winner, Sandra Poitras, eventually received her prize but said: "I think [skill-testing questions are] wrong. I didn’t enter a draw. I won it."

Is it fair that people with learning disabilities or dyscalculia aren't able to win prizes? Who does that protect?

On the other hand, there's a case to be made that the skill-testing questions are too easy.

"You don't have to have any type of aptitude," said Michael Katz in a Wired.com article. "It is simply a way around or way to work within the laws."

How Skill-Testing Questions Affect Sweepstakes Jargon

This quirk of Canadian sweepstakes law affects not only the winners but also the jargon of the Canadian giveaway community.

In the United States, we call randomly-drawn giveaways "sweepstakes" and giveaways with an element of skill "contests." You can read more in this Guide to Sweepstakes Terminology.

Because skill-testing questions eliminate randomly-drawn winners, Canadians technically don't have sweepstakes at all. They call both judged contests and what Americans would call sweepstakes "contests."

While Americans call sweepstakes fans "sweepers," Canadians usually call them "contestors." Only contests really exist by law in Canada.