McDonald’s Monopoly Game, Something You Probably didn’t Know
I’m pretty much addicted to the Monopoly game at McDonald’s. As I was looking around the Internet reading about it, I found out something I had not heard. The was some fraud involved in the game a few years ago. I guess Mickie D’s does a good job being sort of quiet about that. Anyway, here is some information that I found at wikipedia:
Fraud
In 2001, the U.S. promotion was halted after fraud was uncovered. A subcontracting company called Simon Marketing, which was hired by McDonald’s to organize and promote the game, failed to recognize a flaw in its procedures, and the chief of security, Jerome P. Jacobson, was able to remove the “most expensive” game pieces, which he then passed to associates who would redeem them and share the proceeds. It turned out that almost all of the grand prize and top prize winners over several years, including contests McDonald’s held that did not have the Monopoly theme, had been participants in the scheme, netting more than $24 million. The scheme was eventually uncovered when one of the participants informed on its ringleaders to the FBI. While the fraud was perpetrated without McDonald’s knowledge, the McDonald’s Corporation voluntarily attempted to rectify the situation by issuing payouts to new (legitimate) contest-winners, awarding five $1 million prizes and fifty $100,000 prizes over a five-day period.
While the fraud appeared to have been perpetuated by only one key employee of the promotion company, and not by the company’s management, eight people were originally arrested, eventually leading to a total of 51 indicted individuals. The relationship between McDonald’s and Simon Marketing broke down in a pair of lawsuits over breach of contract, eventually settled out of court, with McDonald’s claim being thrown out and Simon receiving $16.6 million. Although McDonald’s was not involved in the fraud, it came under a great deal of criticism for what appeared to be lax oversight of the promotion company.
Aftermath
In 2003, McDonald’s resumed its Monopoly games in the U.S. with new precautions. Game tokens are provided on selected food items and through the mail by sending a self addressed stamped envelope.
In May 2005, the widow of Stanley Warwick, one of the persons indicted in the scheme, sued McDonald’s to continue the twenty annual payments of $50,000 Warwick allegedly won in 1999. These payments were discontinued in 2001 when Warwick was indicted for conspiracy to commit mail fraud. The charges were never brought to trial before Warwick’s death in 2003.
In the 2006 U.S. version, guaranteed win pieces guaranteed either $1 or $5 in Best Buy credit.
In 2007, the pieces have small cent symbols (¢) printed on them in various patterns that are only visible under ultraviolet light.