The McDonald's Monopoly Scam: Operation Final Answer

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In this video:
McDonald’s first started the Monopoly promotion in 1987, and its premise was simple: attach Monopoly pieces to food cartons and cups, with each piece signifying a Monopoly property or a small prize. One out of every four pieces would be a small prize, such as a medium fry or soda, and a very few of the prizes would be significantly more valuable, such as a car or, with the proper pieces, cash - up to $1 million.
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[@TodayIFoundOut]

Now that we've blown the lid off the McDonald's Monopoly scam you should watch this video and learn Why the Monopoly Player Pieces (Thimble, Top Hat, Etc.) are What They Are: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nJOYdWZne5qFq5I

[@carlosmarsal2230]

Today I Found Out first like

[@matthewkaundart]

Did you get credit/attribution for this? Just curious. deadline.com/2018/08/ben-affleck-matt-damon-mcdonalds-monopoly-game-scam-movie-paul-wernick-rhett-reese-1202438868/

[@zoeigarashi4271]

Today I Found Out fcct,

[@selalewow]

I thought you were going to talk about how for a few years, none of the top prizes were won and they were forced to have a lottery for any unclaimed prizes because people thought they were just not distributing these pieces.

[@channelantoneon]

You didn't say the end of January 2018

[@greatoverlordchikonmaster7226]

He stole all of the cards he wanted, except, for the get out of jail free card

[@hanswurst8682]

It's ironic

[@malikholmes5045]

Lmmfao

[@RP-mp4ow]

Boom

[@imgladnotu9527]

this should be pinned.

[@Ryan-iu5tx]

Imglad Notu it should

[@SnazzyZubloids]

McD’s would’ve lost a hell of a lot more than $1million if they’d refused to pay St. Jude’s, and they knew it.

[@gordontaylor2815]

At best, it would've been an (additional) PR disaster for them to stop it, regardless of whatever legal justification they would've tried to use.

[@mrbisshie]

A million dollars is chump change for McDonalds. No way in hell would they wanna be known as the company who took money away from a damn hospital.

[@SnazzyZubloids]

Not just any hospital, it's a non-profit hospital for kids with life-threatening diseases and never charge their patients a dime. So yeah, McD's made the right call. It would've cost them billions had they not.

[@--Dan-]

Really no reason not to do it. They'd write off the payments as a charitable donation and could just deduct that amount from whatever other money they planned on donating anyway for the remaining periods of the payments. Really that aspect of this crime was only particularly good advertising because it was national coverage of their donation, just because they didn't stop it based on a technicality. This was a win for all involved. Mcdonald's gets some good press which essentially costs them nothing, the hospital gets some money, and also press awareness which may lead to others donating, and the guy commiting the crime gets the fact that he donated a large amount of the proceeds of his crime to charity in 'Robin Hood' form, to the judge during the consideration of sentencing. And sure someone else doesn't get to win the million dollars, but chances are they wouldn't do something so noble as giving it all away to charity anyway, so potentially for the best.

[@weckar]

I'm mostly surprised St. Jude's themselves didn't refuse it.

[@XxFoxMotoX3xX]

When I was little, i always used to tell my friends that I had the boardwalk piece at home. I caught one of them snoping around my house trying to find it when I had them over for a sleepover.

[@qbmac2306]

4:31 Go to jail. Go directly to jail. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200.

[@chetopuffs]

QB Mac Missed opportunity

[@TheOriginalSebacrush]

Used to be 2000

[@chetopuffs]

Sebacrush No. Present your evidence

[@TheOriginalSebacrush]

chetopuffs sorry. It was 4000. I just checked it

[@chetopuffs]

Sebacrush smh 🤦‍♀️

[@josequiroz5184]

When I was in highschool, these two girls, who worked at mcdonalds sat in the back of class with about 200 fry bags peeling off the stickers...i knew the scam was in then.

[@handyhippie6548]

i remember when they refused to pay out to a winner because one of their pieces were not from the same area as the others. the winner traveled through many states for their job, and ate at mickie d's in all of them. it seems to me they had to go to court to get their prize.

[@0623kaboom]

yup and not only wont the prize but a sizeable cash prize as well for breach of contract.

[@baddriversofst.johnsnl6180]

What I dislike most about the monopoly contest is when its going on, they dont give out the normal coffee cups that, outside this promotion, have a coffee sticker on it. Collect 7 stickers and get a free coffee. SO all through this monopoly time, i get no free coffees.

[@3DJapan]

A US supermarket chain, Acme, still does the Monopoly game every year. I'm actually playing now. When you buy certain items the cashier gives you game pieces. Each includes 4 stamps that you affix to the appropriate place on the game board. I'm sure it's done the same way where each prize requires 4 stamps for example and only 3 of the stamps are given out often.

[@ethanlamoureux5306]

Almost nobody remembers this scam because the news of it was released on September 10, 2001, and the events of the next day completely eclipsed the story.

[@jliller]

Commits fraud for 12 years, gets 3 year jail sentence? That doesn't add up.

[@kristiansantosa2997]

I thought this video would be about us getting scammed by McDonald's. Those monopoly pieces, seems that they deliberately skip 1 piece so that no one can win the big prize. On the bright side, good to know that it is actually 'winnable' even if you have to cheat to do it.

[@brandonjacky1825]

What's ironic is that McDonald's plays Today I Found Out on their TVs in their restaurants. Guess you won't be seeing this video on there!

[@msquared6695]

anyone else in the U.K. remember many years ago when you could win money rolled up inside the straw if you bought an extra value meal, the straw had gold stripes on and not all was winners but if remember it right i think the prizes ranged from £10 to £50

[@TurboPikachu]

I knew I'd never get money prize or a top-10 prize. But I'm still very happy to have instantly won a full year of Spotify Premium (est value: $120) off of a Large Soda in December 2014.

[@MDW1101]

The guy in Fairplay SC, was my grandfather's former business partner.

[@mrchuckmorris]

After you've worked in any factory environment whatsoever, you realize that it's so hilariously easy to rig any "random" promotion imaginable, they may as well all be considered rigged by someone involved. If your McDonald's cup has a Boardwalk, then all the Park Places are on the black market, 100% guaranteed.

[@danyelPitmon]

I figured out was a scam many years ago whenever I couldn’t get certain pieces of the game board and the only thing I ever got was basically fries or a Coke or maybe a cheeseburger and then I had to pay taxes for that so it wasn’t free no matter what and I never gained anything else from any of the pieces so I quit doing the game because it’s rigged and useless is what I always stop

[@Krawurxus]

Well, anyone who sees how this promotional event is run should automatically assume that there's no fair play involved. I personally assume that MCDonalds is also doing their best to avoid having to pay out too many of the prizes, but I still like the occasional extra food items that everyone can win.

[@Teddy_Bass]

Its like some corporation acted in a fraudulent way to make vast profits

[@theallseeingmaster]

I gagged on the fries I won.

[@theallseeingmaster]

Dude, its a sarcastic commentary on the poor quality of fat/salt laden American fast foods corporate America shoves into our faces and tells us its good for us.

[@V3ryan]

Anyone else get a McDonalds ad play before this video started?

[@-GrimEngineer-1337]

They started doing it back in 1982 not 1987...

[@derekriddler8501]

again...remember....it was not McDonald's that committed a crime .....it was that dude with the suitcase...that being said.....the paying customers were cheated......and McDonald's would have been better off to give free food for a week......proof of past purchase required ( dam those receipt thingys )

[@martinedavis8148]

The most I've won is a free small fries and a small soda.

[@DannyBoyTV]

Am i the only one who played McDonalds monopoly in hopes of getting free food 😂 i was in high school and those free big macs and frappachinos saved me on days i was broke asf

[@isaacroebuck9514]

Wish they'd bring it back, now that I work there it'd be so easy to get loaded off the prizes.

[@omegagilgamesh]

Hold on, a money making scam involving McD's where McD's was innocent? How is that even possible? I thought McD's owned the copyright and trademark for the term and idea of "scam."

[@bryanobaez2815]

1.4k people order a combo but only got the cheese

[@GravaticBurst]

Didn't they think it suspicious that his stepbrother just happened to win it 😑

[@Ir0nMa1d3n]

So.....should we all sue McDonald's and never eat there again......🤔🤔🤔🤔

[@afgzee2011]

In the UK thy have this promo running again

[@irvinchadwick5046]

Great idea for a movie!

[@archertower7587]

I don’t care about the cars or the money all I want is my Big Mac

[@neilnocom282]

Be brave! Stay wild! We'll see you on the next adventure.

[@davidlopezlive]

I want to watch this movie.

[@jamesfrey6136]

Vsauce? Is that you sorry if you already get this a lot

[@loreskcanada8402]

its 130am and im so hungry

[@markr7083]

I used to go and buy stuff just to play the game

[@tomsmith8781]

stopped eating there years ago!

[@chillbrobraggins383]

The british vsauce

[@leathery420]

Lol when your police operation name sounds like a certain genocidal plan.

[@Wingedmagician]

My childhood.

[@ShaneBales]

Is all that hand movement necessary while speaking?

[@RandomBJJGuy]

I've won $100 on MCD monopoly before

[@stenbak88]

I refuse to play these fucking games at restaurants and grocery stores

[@rideswithscissors]

If you eat at McDonald's you are already losing!

[@YaztromoX]

You left out what I find to be an interesting side-note to this story. Jerome Jacobson felt he had an "out", in the form of knowledge of fraud related to the Monopoly game on the part of McDonalds. McDonalds used a computer to randomly pick the restaurant where the major prize winning pieces would go. One year, the million dollar prize was randomly selected to go to a restaurant in Canada -- and McDonalds brass nixed it, and told the team to re-run the selection until they got a US city. Meanwhile, McDonalds in Canada marketed the game as if Canadians had a chance of winning the major prizes, when in truth it was rigged against them. Mr. Jacobson felt he could use this knowledge to blackmail McDonalds if they ever caught on. As we know, it didn't help him in the end.

[@chattingesque372]

Thanks for the extra info. It helps understand why he went on for so long.

[@CarAmeL624]

That makes me even angrier lol. Im a Canadian. We used to buy McDonalds for that reason 🤦🏽‍♀️ knowing we never could have won, just sad

[@scottrichmond3548]

He left that part out because it was Simon Marketing, the company Jacobson worked for, who rigged the game against Canadians, not McDonald's. Then Jacobson rigged it so no one would win, Canadian or otherwise.

[@sofiatgarcia3970]

Thanks for bringing up you sponsor at the beginning and end of your video and not interrupting it in the middle.

[@rrcczz]

I'm never eating Monopoly again.

[@stonent]

Hahah!

[@uhthatdudeeric]

Tf you mean again?

[@dolantrimp1691]

Try eating Clue, it's more filling.

[@MeepMeep88]

I ate chinese checkers once, tasted like fish sauce

[@d00m0racl3]

I quit playing mcdonalds because of this....

[@DeetsterB]

Well it just reinforces what I knew that the Monopoly game is rigged. I get excited only if I win food because I know that’s the best I’d get.

[@neeneec5394]

DeetsterB it was late 80's but the boardwalk piece was in Cincinnati and someone won the million. I'm from there and remember it in news and workers raving about it at that location. what always crosses my mind is how many are stolen by employees and adding extra containers to friends and family.

[@neeneec5394]

Rock Balancer I question every sweepstakes and lottery and fastfood games a scam. duh!!!!!

[@neeneec5394]

Cheap Grey Plastic dude that's with every company including being hired to test out products for like p and g ... be it get paid for your opinion or even to get a freebie sample off a website ...every company you're asked this. including you can't win free concert tickets off a radio show if a relative works there.

[@Anaphriel]

As stated, and shown, the game wasn't a scam...the game *itself* was scammed. No major company would run the risk of scamming it. The money lost from being the recipient of a major civil suit, bad press and the government crackdown for unlawful advertising, would quickly go above and beyond their initial payouts. It *is* however, rigged to ensure that 200 people aren't winning a Million dollar prize...as it should be...or it would never happen again. Look at what happened to Hoover back with their "free flights" promotion, it almost bankrupted them. Your odds of winning are essentially the same as winning any other lottery...you have a better chance of being hit by lightning on your way to McDonalds than walking back with a million.

[@ashphillips4753]

DeetsterB who doesn't get a tingle when they get free food?

[@de_cre_vi]

I always knew the odds of winning any big prize was low anyway, so I just enjoyed playing it anyway as a kid, because I was a kid and collecting the pieces was fun by itself. Plus the freebies like fries or drinks were nice.

[@davidlynch9469]

The whole system is a scam. I got the winning pieces for a mountain bike when I lived in Phoenix AZ. The limited print piece actually had a phone number and I think web address on it to use to claim your prize. This was back in 2005 or 2006 and I did not have internet so I used the phone number to claim my prize. Never got the confirmation letter or follow up. Never got prize. I got a whole lot of nothing. Maybe things are different now but I got burned.

[@n3rdy11]

Afaik the "winning pieces" are not instant win but rather "take part in the lottery for the prize", as there are far more "winning pieces" in circulation for a particular prize than actual prizes. In your case this might have looked like this: "Have the chance to win one of 5 mountain bikes", but the amount of "winning pieces" in circulation might be in the hundreds if not thousands. Probably a change in response to above-mentioned scam.

[@armyvet2285]

I personally won't eat at Mickey D's anymore! Bought a burger that i accidentally left in the back of my car without ever eating it. forgot about it .weeks later while cleaning I found the same beautiful hamburger I bought that day. It was still intact no rottenness, no odor ,NO nothing. Just led me to believe that it's totally fake ass meet. Haven't been back since. Found it a bit creepy

[@mrpanda7777]

@@armyvet2285 has nothing to do with the meat but how the meat is cooked.

[@BenMO]

Armyvet22 wait! You haven’t cleaned your car or even LOOKed in the back seat in how many months.. you found food back there you forgot about after spending money on...? lol

[@CanadianCCP]

@@armyvet2285 You make vets look bad by being this stupid to not know what is the cause of this. Its not fake meat.

[@TeemarkConvair]

its ALWAYS the greed that causes the downfall

[@vincent6297]

Not always

[@AnArchyRulzz]

Well basically humans are conditioned to keep doing something if they get away with it. So every time he got away with it he didn't see why he shouldn't keep trying to get away with it. Which then leads to sloppiness, which then ended up getting him caught. Basically no one ever says "I'm lucky that I got away with it, so I should stop now"

[@dekoldrick]

Exactly. It's like a bank robber who gets away robbing one bank but just can't resist the urge to rob more until eventually, the police figure out the next target and ambush them.

[@LiamADHD]

thomas m. tordel jr. Thats why we need a communists structure where everyone gets the same and if u step out of line you get slapped

[@TeemarkConvair]

it must be difficult conversing with tongue so firmly in cheek LOL

[@jollygreenjeff2640]

I guess he should have stolen a get out of jail free piece.

[@c0r5e]

jollygreenjeff best comment 😂

[@Angryfishwknife]

For all the laws broken, I can't help but feel happy that the million was given to charity. Even though it wasn't obtained legally, McDonald's wasn't forced to pay them a dime. They instead opted to give the money to help and boost the company's image.

[@omargoodman2999]

They didn't do it out of the goodness in their hearts, you know. They just felt paying out the million cost a crap-ton less than the potential loss due to the public-relations nightmare of stiffing a children's charity. They were forced to pick between paying out a million dollars fraud vs losing billions in revenue in the court of public opinion.

[@Angryfishwknife]

Omar Goodman Ofc, but they could have chosen not to pay it by saying something along the lines of, "Well the winnings are non transferable" or even that it wasn't a legit win. You are right because it sorta stuck them in hard spot and they chose the easy route out and stayed in favor of the public.

[@pacman10182]

taking money from sick kids is bad PR

[@Angryfishwknife]

yeah just a bit

[@emsavings]

They have a good history with children's charities, anyway. Ronald McDonald House is an incredible and upright charity. McDs ain't all bad.

[@thingX1x]

Simon in elementary: Teacher asks a question.... Simon: *Raises hand*, "Hello, I'm Simon Whistler, and today you're about to find out...."

[@monks311]

Awe! And he's wearing the same clothes he wears on the show and he's bald!

[@seon55]

i wonder if Simon is his real name or a macabre play on " Simon says" ?? lol

[@jamessaker270]

*primary school

[@thingX1x]

In Canada where I'm from it's called, "elementary school".

[@gregoryeverson741]

M1Gaming same in USA we call it elementary

[@TheEroticMovieReview]

If you eat enough McDonald’s to play a game of Monopoly...... You might be eating too much McDonald’s, just saying

[@EggEnjoyer]

The Erotic Movie Review Tbh you can win the food prizes just by buying one item

[@mikkelhindsbo2202]

The Erotic Movie Review If you eat at McDonald’s, you might be eating too much at McDonald’s

[@palmtop_studios]

The Erotic Movie Review ha

[@thebitchinthecorner2252]

If you eat enough McDonalds to play monopoly your name is Donald Trump.

[@Beer_Dad1975]

No might about it.

[@morbey2011]

I knew it was a dodgy rip off. You never hear off the winners

[@Natef89]

There were winners though. What's your point? So you didn't hear of them at the time, now you have. The scam was that they were illegitimate prize winners, not that there were none at all. Dummy.

[@jamesrobinson9176]

McDonald's owes us all more than an apology. We've all spent money expecting a fair chance to win, which we didn't get.

[@neoasura]

I agree, they made more money and didn't suffer any consequences for it.

[@Sadreath]

@@neoasura How do you figure they shoukd go about it in a scandal that is more than two decades old and in which it is impossible to track the victims?

[@LuckyBaldwin777]

McDonald's didn't run the contest, the marketing company 'Simon Marketing, Inc.' did. When the Simon Marketing security officer, Jerome Jacobson stole the valuable pieces, he made McDonald's a victim too. The way I see it, they're the ones to go after, not McDonald's.

[@MasterXploder88]

Always looking for any way to get a handout aren't ya's? You're not owed anything.

[@marvindebot3264]

And you got it, a snap 10 million dollar version of the promotion held after this happened with lot better odds of winning as there were 5x the number of prizes as normal given away over a much shorter timescale.

[@user-yf6zz3cl8i]

You should do a April fools prank where you have Vsauce stand in as you for a video

[@allanbaker5945]

Haha, brilliant.

[@brakosjacob8019]

And you in a vsauce video.

[@ness6578]

It took me 4 videos to realise that I wasn't watching Vsauce anymore

[@d00m0racl3]

oh oh, 3hrs in, I'll bet you're off in the dak regions of YT by now. Come back! come back! x-P

[@DriftKingNL]

With 90% of Vsauce's recent content hidden behind a paywall, nobody is watching Vsause anymore.

[@ciarfah]

DriftKingNL Vsauce still makes roughly the same amount of free content, now there is just extra paid content

[@NolePTR]

KZbin Red is worth it just for Vsauce, not to mention removing ads.

[@volksrod6926]

c fahy I remember being able to watch several videos a week. Now they put out maybe 2 a month.

[@MrVvulf]

TIL Jacobson took a "chance" with the "community chest" but ended on "go to jail".

[@raymondj8768]

now thell be playin with his chest in the jail community hahah

[@cmdraftbrn]

he did not pass go. and did not collect $200.

[@elr2141979]

Lol 😁

[@my3dviews]

He eventually got out by rolling doubles. :-)

[@jrtwit7566]

in their Canadian game 2019, they have a prize called scull candy for $20. So after you sign in with giving an overabundance of personal information to claim your prize you find out scull cany is a company that sells overpriced electronic equipment and you get 20 bucks off. Good right. So the only thing they have priced for under 20 is a cord that they are out of stock on. I would guess Mcdonalds probably gets a $20 minimum kickback for every sale this company makes if someone is stupid enough to purchase through their site. My opinion is this prize piece is a scam.

[@MatanuskaHIGH]

jr twit my skull candy headphones were 20$ they are garbage though

[@karensauve3791]

I was 14 in 1987 and spent all my money hoping to win. I never won anything. Scam against children.

[@gamermapper]

Greatest unspoken truth about any hasard games : casino owner is the only winner

[@jevonedwards7332]

When it's on I don't buy them for the big prizes, I buy them for the little ones. It's great being able to get a free burger or fries without having to worry about paying. Especially if you were going to buy McDonald's anyway

[@daveborn1971]

You had to be 18 to win the big prizes

[@royalhilltararanger3947]

U might as well bought game board it's self been years since it actually had a Mickey d😀

[@LeonusStawalker]

I can't believe McDonalds would allow the pieces to be distributed in a way where the guy could just swipe them. They require their employees to use a fingerprint scanner to clock in and out and a manager's approval if they're even a minute off their schedule, yet at no point did they require verification that every piece that was sent out made it to its destination.

[@pxpin89]

I don't think they've ever had trust since the entire company was founded on an elaborate scam that fucked over the original owners.

[@JulieWallis1963]

Lyridia Starwalker I would have expected the employers to work as at least a team of two. Just to keep the prize safe.

[@lysandertavish1684]

remember this is like 30 years ago, regulations and computer security in general was very different. I dont think fingerprint scanners even existed 30 years ago.

[@remo687]

Well it wasn't the fucking stone age. Couriers have been require to sign off on things of that value for decades, especially something like that, which was basically millions of dollars in that envelope. This was professional sloppiness and ineptitude on the part of the security process for this game, plain and simple. They dropped the ball on this.

[@johnwortherly4592]

more like they knew it was happening and the courier payed off someone at mcdonalds. when they know who is going to win and when they are going to win, you can keep people buying these tickets because of the hope they have that they still have a chance to win. if someone won in the first week, then no one would play the game anymore. this assured mcdonalds marketing scheme would be successful and the monopoly game would provide lots of profit. they then used this guy as a pawn and if he gives up anyone above him will be gotten rid of...you had to buy large soda, and fries. both of which are very profitable for mcdonalds.

[@TheCynicalDude_]

These skillshare infomercials are getting fairly elaborate.

[@Sirick]

It also sucks, if it's the one I'm thinking of. Better "tutorials" on KZbin for free.

[@Jiraton]

These are pretty good ad-skipping training videos, actually !

[@lesreed7943]

Fairly tedious, The....

[@Ed1Ward]

TheCynicalDouche $132 yearly auto reoccurring payments...

[@TheCynicalDude_]

Les Reed Did you just refer to me as, "The"?

[@Henchman1977]

When it comes to prizes like cars, ATVs or bikes or other branded prizes, not only would these be provided to Mcdonald's from each free but may end up paying McDonald's to feature their product as a prize.

[@LexYeen]

Not to mention they can write off donations to charity, such as paying out a million-dollar prize despite the rules of the contest being violated and said charity's claim on the prize money being made invalid, on their taxes. Good for the corporation for donating the money to charity, of course, but they were certainly not motivated purely by altruism.

[@dangerouslytalented]

and in many jurisdictions, the winners have to pay tax on the prizes.

[@johnboy3419]

Insurance companies pay for it nothing is free nothing and yes u have to pay taxes on whatever u win

[@maltheal82]

well there's that, and the PR nightmare that would ensue if they cut the payout.

[@johnboy3419]

Fuc kYourAds yea most people sell their winnings that have value like cars and such

[@yashthumar.2360]

Why does he look like VSAUCE to me?

[@emmaemma8171]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA yes

[@edwardelric4975]

With a shaved head, glasses, and a beard you TOO can look like vsauce Micheal here.

[@randyscott9034]

I’ve always been wary of these contests there thousands of them going on at any given time but I’ve never known anyone in my life to win anything !

[@ryotaryuu]

That explains why no one I know ever won anything good

[@NamekJedi]

My mom won an xbox 360

[@dolantrimp1691]

i won a small fries.

[@milogumball5755]

one of my ex gfs reckon she won a car on McDonalds monopoly.. but I never saw the car.. so I reckon she was full o shit

[@ryotaryuu]

Watch Me Play Games lol

[@jipto11]

Captain Howdy know one you knew won anything because these prizes were extremely rare

[@Sibs]

Who knew McDonald's would cheat in Monopoly more than my family

[@ShapeshifterOS]

It was a 3rd party distributor that was at fault not McDonalds. More specifically an employee of the marketing company. Were you not paying any attention to the video?

[@Sibs]

ShapeshifterOS yeah McDonald's just made the joke funnier

[@calevasq]

I liked Alex’s joke. Don’t be so dense!

[@about99ninjas56]

Caleb Vasquez if you like shitty jokes that dont make sense, then go you.

[@Sibs]

about 99 ninjas Hey I can't please everyone 😅

[@orellaminx3530]

I wonder how many prizes the agents won just from eating while staking out parking lots. Director "So, how much did the monopoly operation end up costing us?" "Only about 100 grand, Agent Johnson won the million dollar prize and since he was on the clock we stole it from him."

[@MrWhateverfits]

You also have to realize that Pepsie found loop holes in their own giveaway to avoid giving a man the jet he rightfully had the Pepsie points for.

[@seanboyd2898]

If I recall, that there was a part of the ad that specified that not everything in the ad was in stock?

[@MrWhateverfits]

No they said that the Harrier Jet was a real prize only they used a legal loop hole to get out of giving the guy the Jet cause it wasn't legal to own or give away or something like that.

[@yittmashups]

You also have to realize that Nuka Cola found loop holes in their own giveaway to avoid giving a raider the truckload of Jet he rightfully had the caps for.

[@wrighj]

YepImTheToaster You also have to realise that a settlement needs your help .

[@tlohbor2690]

pepsi couldnt get the jet for the guy just like they couldnt get a nuke or a spaceship unless they stole one somehow. there was no loophole, the man had to be paid off. it was advertised on a commercial and was an obvious joke. the guy got millions which is much more useful to him. also pepsi only ran the promo once. plenty of reasons to hate pepsi but it is legit business to give somebody something better than what they won i think and not comparable to a scam that has denied tens of thousands of people their prizes.

[@hvonwolfenstein2638]

I will never forget this story...Everyone remembers where they were the day Ronald McDonald broke their heart.

[@hektur6770]

It was also the day Ronald McDonald broke my virginity

[@rachelgarber1423]

H VonWolfenstein Actually it was that creep, not McDonald's

[@miri8851]

9/11 who?

[@dingus6186]

H VonWolfenstein everyday heart attack loving mcburgers

[@ovalwingnut]

LMAO... good one (BTW, did you have it "Super Sized"? :)

[@jamesbriskin1299]

Hey simon. You made an error in your research. The first ten years of this game the game pieces were a separate card not attached to food items. During this period you got TWO game pieces folded over four times and had two tear strips to open the games pieces. Also during this time the game pieces were packed into plastic bags and then put them in cardboard cases like the rest of McDonald food is shipped. I would ask for as many as I could get. You didn’t even have to make a food purchase. Alas McDonald got wise to this and started putting the game pieces on all food items. making you purchase food to play. Then again ten years ago they limited to specific food items that would have the game pieces like you just talked about in this video

[@bobbieleveline3207]

Yes, I remember this in my area as well. Don't know if it was changed everywhere, but you are correct!! Damn, I totally forgot about that until I read your comment!!

[@thecheesecakeman]

McDonalds maintained their commitment to St. Jude's hospital even though the prize was fraudulent. Kudos to McDonalds!

[@LoydAvenheart]

The PR though.

[@zan31669]

Million buck isn't much but a taxes right off

[@ratintimbs4553]

kudos to jacobson for hooking them up you mean.

[@isaacroebuck9514]

Yeah as a company they're not really as bad as you think, I work for Burger King Corp and I'll tell you right not there's no way in hell they'd even consider doing something nice like that.

[@agent.-_-5846]

Jack Williams wtf are you going on about..

[@johnny-becker]

4:18 The town is called Fairplay? You can't make this stuff up.

[@malikholmes5045]

John Becker ctfu, good catch

[@rextruegood6168]

John Becker story is fake

[@johnny-becker]

I have to disagree with you on that one, from 1989-1995, I was 9-15 years old and I remember this scandal although I didn't think it was that wide spread. When the Internet was not the monstrous beast it was today (motion picture consisted of an image moving at only five or six frames) and was not the go to source for news, it was all over in newspapers, television and radio news. Of course, I was one of the few that went to McDonalds for the food and the game was just a bonus. Others, including those who never been or have not been in a while or long time, were going for the game and the food was the bonus. Most I ever won was a meal deal of my choosing. I remember, because it was sloppily put together as if they knew that they were not making a dime off of it but I am one to never complain on something I got for free.

[@DocR16]

We have a fairplay here in Colorado too.

[@miki_mochi]

lol, claiming they didn't know the pieces were obtained illegally. What reason would anyone have to give you half of their winnings with the stipulation that you are the one to claim it? Unless you are REALLY good friends/family???

[@johnfrancisdoe1563]

Miki Mochi The (very common) scam is to come up with a sob story that will sound plausible to sufficiently naive people. Look through the spam in your E-mail for fresh examples of these kinds of scams (and know that any names and brands in the first mail will be false).

[@scottt.919]

back taxes or owed child support are two reasons that come to mind. Maybe a bench warrant the person plans on answering once they can afford a lawyer. I wouldn't do it, but these aren't unfathomable.

[@gewgulkansuhckitt9086]

You could make up a story that if there is an official record of you winning the prize, that your winnings will be immediately taken away from you to pay some unfair debt, or that even if the debt is fair that you desperately need the money for a really good reason, like that operation your mom needs for cancer. So you offer to split the prize money if they give you cash under the table and don't let anyone know. Frankly I'm surprised they got convictions on the "I just mortgaged my house." evidence because that's just circumstantial. People mortgage their houses all the time for legitimate reasons. If they can't prove what they did with the money, they could always say they blew it on drugs, but have since quit using drugs and probably get a much lighter penalty since they wouldn't actually have any drugs in their possession.

[@jasminejo2424]

or you could pose as a McDonalds worker or a relative of one. i know people who work at McDonalds have their food given to them in cups and boxes without stickers on as they are not allowed to play. its possible a child or parent of a McDonalds worker would not be able to win the 1mil prize as it is too suspicious

[@scottb9997]

its called don't look a gift horse in the mouth

[@Vasquezz28]

a co-worker back in 2013 almost won $500,000. he found the last piece in during his lunch and took off home. when he arrived home his wife, who kept telling him to stop wasting his money buying McDonald's saying he would never win anything, threw all the pieces away in the morning and the trash had been collected mid day. he came in to work the most angry and depressed we had ever seen. he quit a week later and disappeared.

[@Anaphriel]

A lovely piece of this story left out, is that after the whole event, McDonald's attempted to sue Simon's...Simon's counter-sued for breach of contract (for firing the company of an employee that stole over $20 Million from them) and McDonald's wound up paying Simon's $16.6 Million.

[@CalvinHikes]

Wot

[@parker_aug2]

- Company A's employee steals millions of dollars from company B. - Company B sues. - Company A counter sues and wins millions from company B. Horrible.

[@bryanhall9230]

Only in America can this happen 😕. So freaking stupid!

[@nispelsm]

Welcome to the US Judicial system, where the victim is usually the one that loses.

[@talltroll7092]

Unless the contract specifically allowed for termination in those circumstances, the contract was unlawfully terminated. After all, the 200 people who lost their jobs did nothing wrong, nor did the company. I bet the contract with whoever handles it now has a few extra paragraphs though.

[@tamaraf69]

That company that McDonald's terminated the contract with, caused other companies to follow suit and brought the entire business (Simon Marketing) down within 6 months, that included the factories and all offices across the world they had. There was only one office open after that 6 month mark. One person who left hundreds without a job - and then 9/11 hit. It wasn't a good time for many of those employees.

[@dynasty0019]

9/11 caused an economic downturn since one of the world's biggest venue for business and trade was destroyed. Many companies from various industries especially those connected to tourism, consumerism (Simon Marketing is one of them), and travel filed for bankruptcy in the aftermath of the attacks.

[@tamaraf69]

It was so hard to get a job for a huge chunk of those people due to the type of jobs they they specialized in

[@johnfrancisdoe1563]

Tamara Cook Oh, I thought they might have been located in one of the towers.

[@yittmashups]

That took a dark turn at the end there.

[@Useaname]

Tamara Cook and the guy was a jew. He only got three years. Typical.

[@LaurenAnyone]

“Simon Marketing” huh....?

[@MrDigztheswagking]

LaurenAnyone lol

[@ReallyReal_1]

LaurenAnyone I was thinking the exact same thing

[@LaRedPDX]

Simon says corporations are evil LOL

[@TomTomTomTom538]

I was a manager at McDonald's and another manager stole a whole roll of monopoly stickers, didn't win anything significant though

[@TheCoyoteHill]

I work in the factory that makes the monopoly cups. They always have super tight security when we make them. Ironic that one of their own guys was stealing them.

[@PamperedPetz]

They still have the game from time to time.

[@american11asshole]

Not here this year.

[@scunts]

It seems to run yearly in Australia.

[@Siberius-]

Why wouldn't they.. Simon didn't say the whole thing is a scam. Misleading title.

[@Anaphriel]

For years there was a scam surrounding the Monopoly game run through McDonalds....so, not a misleading title at all if you understand English.

[@richardtickler8555]

it seems to run endlessly in switzerland

[@Pining_for_the_fjords]

It sounds like Jerome Jacobson really had a monopoly on the winning pieces.

[@apple54345]

ayy but really... 3 years in jail? that's it? dafuq

[@nathanieldaiken1064]

Conway79, good one!

[@hunterstokes7113]

+apple54345 you havent been to jail obviously

[@darthsavage4025]

It's great that McDonald's kept paying the prize money to St. Jude's. And, to be honest, I'm kinda surprised that the government didn't swoop in and seize the money as part of the investigation

[@dorro4813]

That stayed in a secret

[@Malepical]

yeah taking money back from sick children prolly isnt a good look for the PR department lol

[@catmandenny]

I can remember going through the drive-thru several times a day just to get those game pieces because no purchase was necessary (and I didn't care much for their food anyway). Of course I didn't win anything big since, as stated in the video, it was a scam.

[@spectre9792]

hmm… I always thought that McDonald's only printed THREE of the four railroad tickets needed to win the $1M, switching out which ones were printed each year, but they would NOT print that all-too necessary final piece needed to win the prize.

[@stonent]

I just figured they would print 3 pieces and then wait until they had earned more than enough money to cover the cost of the prizes and then release the last one.

[@LeonusStawalker]

They might switch out which ones are more common to make it seem less rigged, but if they never printed the tickets needed for a prize they advertised then they would be violating the law. They would definitely rather take the calculated and low risk of someone actually winning the million then the much higher risk of someone finding out and facing a multi-million dollar lawsuit.

[@dynamicworlds1]

"As it turns out, as with the real game of Monopoly, its not so harx to cheat if you're the banker." Yet another way monopoly is like real life, even excluding McDonalds promotions.

[@bobhollywood6292]

DynamicWorlds excluding or including?

[@stockloc]

I thought I was the only one who stole from the bank as a banker.

[@frankhoney3441]

I should sue McDonalds for false advertising.

[@GabrielTobing]

I won a instant win once, I was so happy, UNTIL I CHECKED THE EXPIRY DATE!!! WHAT SORT OF PEOPLE WOULD DO THIS!!!

[@EmeraldEyesEsoteric]

Those games are always shaky. They are legally required to say "no purchase necessary" yet, without a purchase you aren't getting a game piece. (Unless you happen to find them in the trash) And that brings us to the reason why they can get away with cheating. Some people just buy the meals and ignore the game cards, so it is assumed if no one finds the big cash prize, it was printed for someone who threw it away.

[@Furthea2]

Actually you really didn't have to buy anything from mcdonalds to get a stamp. Any game with a "no purchase necessary" has alternate methods that generally involve sending a self-addressed stamped envelope inside of another envelope and mailed to a corporate address, where they'll then use that included envelope to send you back an entry/piece/pieces/whatever.

[@lmsubman243]

All I ever got was Baltic Avenue and Water Works😫 along with a bigg belly that drooped over my belt buckle.

[@cameronwhyte7223]

That hotel is a dump.

[@robert48044]

I heard the game pieces are split among regions to improve the odds on mcdonalds side of the game

[@xdarkknightx09]

Definitely. I remember when I was little getting components for a toy from McDonald's during a family trip. There were components that you could never get in our state, but when we stopped in another state all they had were those components. Obviously they would do that for the monopoly game to.

[@nicholas_scott]

No. If you ever actually played the game, you would realize every section is made up of 2-3 "common" cards, and 1 "rare". Mathematically, you would fill 5 game boards of all the common cards before you were likely to win the small $5 prize.

[@robert48044]

Nicholas Scott who hasnt had McDonald's and has access to youtube. I was just saying what i heard.

[@treymagathan847]

Joey Dyker Wouldn't surprise me if the outcome of sweepstakes are engineered against the competitors.

[@Anaphriel]

There are millions of minute prize pieces printed out and very few of the ones needed to win big made. This needs to be done in order to ensure that there aren't 1,000 winners of major prizes. Select distribution centers were sent the pieces, to assist in control, but those pieces made their way onto product that was shipped across the country. At a certain point, even McDonalds doesn't know where certain pieces are. But when you hit odds such as the 2009 Monopoly event (1 in 542 Million), it doesn't matter.

[@abcdefg54321x]

So THAT’S why I could never find Boardwalk!

[@nejolo9563]

Jacobson can’t be that bad. He gave the 1 million prize to St Jude. McDonalds only kept up the payments because it would look really bad if they didn’t.

[@stonent]

Guilt maybe on his part. Once he realized it was so easy.

[@d00m0racl3]

ofc ever hear of "buying a stairway to heaven"?

[@indianastan]

yeah A real Robin Hood type, shit. "Not that bad?" it wasn't HIS $$$ to give away.

[@nejolo9563]

Indianastan Robin Hood never gave away his own money. So the original comment still stands.

[@nathanieldaiken1064]

Wait-- McDonald's isn't Jewish, are they? Their food is trayef, non kosher!

[@DJM.I.A.]

Vsause cousin

[@ayhuz]

DJ M.I.A. aka vsause that doesn’t only post KZbin premium videos

[@chupacabra9357]

The town is actually called Fairplay?