McDonalds Monopoly 2007 Contest

I heard its coming back this month. Anyone know if the B*st B*y bucks will be back? I am trying to decide if I need to start addressing envelopes.

I believe in previous years, it has always been in October. I am sure that McD's and BestBuy are monitoring the situation of people sending in hundreds (if not thousands) of SAEs to get Best Buy Bucks and will end up making more and more rules or lower the odds of getting higher value (not $1) BBB. We'll see in a few weeks or so, I'm sure.

Print off address labels. Or buy an address stamp. Easy money.

Last Year's Thread had the first post on September 12th giving information about the contest but nobody was able to verify it and post offial rules until September 18th, so I'd give it a week or two before we know what McDonald's is going to do this year.

Im just impatient. Trying to figure out if I want anything this year and how hard it will be to get it.

Maybe this is the year to get a better discount that the $1 I always get.

This is a copy of BITTERDOG's posts from (rhymes with click)deals.net directly from McDonalds about this year's promotion. Apparently I can't list the site name. It is FORBIDDEN! Not much in the way of details, unfortunately.

first reply came in
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: shannelle.armstrong@us.mcd.com
To: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: 2007-09-05 09:56
Subject: 2007 Monopoly Rules

Ron,
The rules to play Monopoly at McDonald's will be available via our website (www.mcdonalds.com) starting October 3, 2007.

Hope this helps,
Shannelle Armstrong

Please note new email address: shannelle.armstrong@us.mcd.com
************************************************** ****************************
Shannelle R. Armstrong
U.S. Communications
McDonald's USA, LLC
2111 McDonalds Drive
Oak Brook, IL 60523
(630) 623-5508 office
(312) 401-2834 mobile
(630) 623-3994 fax

--------------------------------------------
2nd reply

---- Original Message -----
From: lisa.mccomb@us.mcd.com
Sent: September 05, 2007 11:38 AM
Subject: Re: Upcomming 2007 Promotion

Hello -- Thank you for your inquiry. My department doesn't have involvement in any of the marketing promotions, but I was told that customers can get rules in restaurants or at www.mcdonalds.com when the promotion starts on Oct. 2. I hope that helps.

Thank you.
Lisa McComb

Manager, Corp. Media Relations
McDonald's Corp.
2915 Jorie Blvd., Dept. 335
Oak Brook, IL 60523
lisa.mccomb@us.mcd.com

For those curious as to how those RUMORED odds would play out over the long term, they are actually very similar to last year's.

Last year: 1 in 12 $5, 11/12 $1 => $1.33 average per piece

This year???: 1 in 168 (15 in 2520) $10, 1 in 15 (168 in 2520) $5, 2337 in 2520 $1 => $1.32 average per piece

If this is in fact true, my guess is more restrictions on their use will be the result. Otherwise BB probably sees just as much damage as last year.

I sure hope so, the best buy bucks from last years game paid for many of my xmas gifts!

marcussba said: Except that last year's denominations were $1 and $3

No, they were $1 and $5 last year. $1 and $3 the year before.

I'll be curious to see if they change how much you can apply toward the purchase of a CD - would they actually deny the $5 and $10 BBB for that?

I'm pretty sure they did last year for the $5 tickets.

If you're looking for a history lesson on McDonald's Monopoly since they started including Best Buy Bucks I'll post it below.

Terms:
BBB = Best Buy Buck
Average Value = Average Value of a Best Buy Buck assuming you got exactly the odds advertised.
Average ROI = Average Return On Investment of each dollar you spent sending in a request. This assumes you do not place a value on the time it takes you to send in a request. I take Average Value divided by the cost of postage during that year plus $0.01 for an envelope. For instance with postage at $0.39 so the Average ROI = Average Value/($0.39*2+$0.01*2) = Average Value/$0.80.

Postal History: Postage for a first class letter was $0.39 in 2006 and $0.37 in 2005,2004, and 2003.

2006:
$1 BBB - odds 1:1.08
$5 BBB - odds 1:12.4
Average Value: $1.32
Average ROI: $1.65

2005:
$1 BBB - odds 1:1.50
$3 BBB - odds 1:2.99
Average Value: $1.67
Average ROI: $2.20

2004:
$1 BBB - odds 1:1.0003
$5 BBB - odds 1:5,200
$10 BBB - odds 1:9,750
Average Value: $1.00
Average ROI: $1.32

2003:
$1 BBB - odds 1:1.0003
$5 BBB - odds 1:5,500
$10 BBB - odds 1:11,000
Average Value: $1.00
Average ROI: $1.32

schwoozer said: Thanks pfil, that post was very informative.

And hopefully this confirms once and for all that last year had $5 BBB. Which I already said. Twice.

I saved all the rules from previous years so I knew for sure you were right about last year. Just for fun if I use the value from the RUMORED odds that you calculated to an Average Value of $1.33 you end up with an Average ROI of $1.58 which is worse than last year but still better than the first two years. However if the odds and Average Value is close to what they did the first two years then the Average ROI this year would be $1.19 because of the increase in postage; which would probably be a low enough ROI for me to pass on it this year unless I find something at Best Buy that I know I want for sure and is priced the same as other stores. This might not be easy to do as Best Buy is usually 10-20% above the price of what I can buy items for online so only gaining $0.19 per dollar and figuring in my labor and potential hassle of dealing with Best Buy managers I'd probably pass but lets hope this year is closed to the RUMOR or better.

pfil said: Also as another interesting tidbit of information. In 2005 and 2006 I sent away for a copy of the winners list. In 2005 the top prize was $1,000,000 for getting Boardwalk and Park Place. In 2006 the top prize was $5,000,000 for getting all the Railroads and $1,000,000 for Boardwalk and Park Place.

Well...in 2005, nobody won the top prize of $1,000,000 and in 2006 nobody won the top prize of $5,000,000 though somebody did win the $1,000,000 2nd prize that year. McDonalds hasn't had a good record of actually having to award the top prize for the past two years.

well since they do put prizes not claim dont have to be awarded really does suck. IS there anyway to even prove mcdonalds even puts out the winning pieces. I mean come on if someone had the very rare 4th railroad, im sure they would of gotten the other 3 off eBay for less then 50 bucks LOL

slidecage said:
well since they do put prizes not claim dont have to be awarded really does suck. IS there anyway to even prove mcdonalds even puts out the winning pieces. I mean come on if someone had the very rare 4th railroad, im sure they would of gotten the other 3 off eBay for less then 50 bucks LOL

In 2005 I actually called McDonalds and talked to a CSR and asked if they had any form of second chance drawing hoping that even though it wasn't in the rules anywhere that they were legally obligated to award all advertised prizes and I'd be one of perhaps 100 people that thought of entering the second chance drawing but they didn't have one. So they I questioned the guy as to if they could prove the top prize was actually winnable since how do I or you or any of their millions of customers know they actually printed a Boardwalk or Short Line Railroad game piece (top prizes in 2005 and 2006, respectively)? The CSR's answer was "Somebody won $1,000,000 last year". To which I replied "That doesn't prove the prize existed this year. If you don't have to prove there is a prize the you could advertise it as being a billion dollars and just not print a winning game piece.". So then of course the guy was confused and had to talk to somebody higher up and came back to tell me the prize was winnable. I asked him if they were legally obligated to prove that the prize was winnable and if he could send me proof bringing up the scandal from the prior years where employees of the company that made the game pieces were stealing the top prizes and selling them to friends of friends to hide the fact they stole them. He of course didn't know and was going to have somebody get back with me and if they didn't I was supposed to call back a few months later which I neglected to do when they obviously didn't return my call and answer my question. Wish I had called back and hassled them again but I never got around to it. I should've last year when they didn't award the $5,000,000.

Likely somebody that didn't know Short Line was the winning railroad assumed it was common and tossed it in the trash. I suspect the prize was winnable and they intentionally make it collect and win because few people actually know which of the 2, 3 or 4 pieces of one color is the winner, except of course for Boardwalk. I still say McDonalds should be legally compelled to prove the game isn't rigged. I also say they should have to award all advertised prizes such as in a second chance drawing. Contests always used to have second chance drawings; that's disappeared from contest rules in recent years which makes me wonder if some law changed such that they no longer have to offer second chance drawings or if businesses used to voluntarily offer them. Out of curiosity I've sent away for the list of winners for promotions from other companies and it is very common for them to award a very small percentage of winnable prizes. They deliver far less than they promise in advertising the contests; likely because people with winning game pieces don't check if they are winning pieces because most people doubt they could win. I'm sure this is intentional. Probably if they were required to have second chance drawings the total value of all advertised prizes would go down; I'm sure they factor in that they won't have to award all the prizes when making a list of what the top prizes are.

Anybody with expert knowledge of contest law out there? If there is no oversight or law requiring you prove a contest is winnable perhaps I'll open a restaurant and pretend to have a multimillion dollar top prize that doesn't really exist !

pfil said: schwoozer said: slidecage said: IS there anyway to even prove mcdonalds even puts out the winning pieces.

For a while, they didn't (although this wasn't actually McD's fault). See here for info on the scam.

Correct, but even though it was a scam somebody actually collected the winning prize. It was just rigged on who would win. Which sort of provides circumstantial evidence to my theory that the real winning pieces are tossed in the trash by people who don't think they are going to win and don't know which piece of the set is the winner and throw it away assuming they didn't win. I say this because the years it was a scam the top prize was always awarded but the past two years in a row nobody won. So if it isn't rigged it at least seems that it is more likely somebody won't win (unless it is rigged such that it is impossible to win, which is why I say they should be legally obligated to provide proof to me if I question them if the prize was winnable).

sadly there is no way to prove if its a scam or not. Look at powerball. I wonder sometimes when this jackpot gets to 200 to 300 million if these people are real or just someone the company hires to say they won and never collect. Where is this company getting its cash. Then again maybe they pull in more then this weekly.

i think just last month that 320 million and then another 20 million was hit in the same week

well hopefully in 2 weeks the rules will be up and then i know to start making out my envlopes or not. i did them all the last week of sept last year. I can start on a friday night and have around 200 of them ready to go by that monday.

Other than free fries or a Coke has anyone really won big playing the McD's Monopoly?

MumzOf2 said: Other than free fries or a Coke has anyone really won big playing the McD's Monopoly?

i got back in 2004

22 months of GameFly
34 months of pogo.
and tons of food

back in 2005 and 2006 the online game was so bad i didnt even play. just tossed out all the pieces that was losers

hopefully 2007 online will bring back good prizes

tmctn74 said: as far as the mcdonalds contest, as well as any other major contest, the companies don't have to prove anything to anyone. the same type of auditors who oversee the lottery drawings also verify that the winning prizes are actually winnable.
I'm sure this wasn't your intent but it is not correct to say "...the companies don't have to prove anything to anyone" as they would need to prove it to the auditors you say oversee the contest .

I'm not claiming any conspiracies but if I or anyone in the public asks for proof shouldn't McDonald's at the very least provide me with the name of the company or the list of auditors that oversee the contest? If not, why bother having auditors? From 1995 to 2001 the company McDonald's hired to administer the game had employees stealing the top prizes and funneling them through proxies so if there were any auditors overseeing the contest to verify the prizes were winnable all they did was verify the winning game piece was printed, not that it was distributed to the public so an actual legitimate customer could win. In light of this previous scandal you'd think McDonald's would want to show proof the contest is winnable rather than only having auditors that oversee the contest verifying it. There also are laws regarding contests so obviously McDonald's does have to prove to somebody that the prizes are winnable. If the government were to start asking questions I don't think they are going to say "We hired auditors but we won't tell you who they were", so they do have to prove it to somebody otherwise they'd run afoul of contest laws and likely not be allowed to run the contest in the future.


tmctn74 said: without getting into the nitty gritty details, mcdonalds doesnt have to "spend" 5 million dollars if they have to pay out the top prize. like other big sweepstakes, an insurance company "underwrites" the promotion, and calculates the odds of someone actually winning the prize. the way it usually works from there is that mcdonalds agrees to pay the insurance company X number of dollars, regardless if someone wins the top prize or not. the reason they do this is because this way, both the insurance company and mcdonalds are taking some risk, but not as they would without each other. think of it this way, if they agree that mcdonalds will pay the insurance company $1.5 million, then mcdonalds could potentially save 3.5 million by not having to pay out the full prize themselves. the insurance company could then potentially make 1.5 million if no one collects, but might lose 3.5 if someone does win. this way they are sharing the risk. obviously the insurance company hopes no one wins so they get 1.5 mil in profit, and mcdonalds wants someone to win, so they save 3.5 mil since they didnt have to pay out the full amount.
Do you in fact know that McDonald's has an insurance company underwrite the top prize? It seems like a waste of time to me considering according to McDonald's latest balance sheet they have $2.1 billion in "Cash And Cash Equivalents", so it seems like a lot of trouble to go through considering a few million dollars is nothing compared to their cash reserve. I would agree irregardless of whether they underwrite the prize that they wouldn't need $5,000,000 to pay for a $5,000,000 prize considering they pay it out as a 20 year annuity, so they really only need to have $250,000/yr available for the winner. Unlike the lottery there is no option to take the current cash value but like the lottery the actual amount of money they'd need to set aside to pay out the prize is probably near half the amount the prize is worth. So whether they underwrite the top prize or not the money McDonald's risks is far less than the value of the advertised prize; if it's also underwritten then there would be a twofold cost savings and even less risk I suppose.

cburk said: I found the rules again for this years contest. Not looking so hot. No bestbuy.

Monopoly 2007 Link

From what I can see, this just applies to the online part of the game. Of course, none of the links on that page work for me so I can't get to the full rules.

From cburk's link:

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Online Game begins 10/2/07 at 12:00:01 a.m. ET and ends 11/13/07 at 11:59:59 p.m. ET and is open to residents of the U.S., Puerto Rico, Guam, Saipan and American Samoa. Must be 13 or older and have a valid Code to play Online Game. Codes available at participating McDonald's through 10/29/07, or while distribution supplies last. Free Code allows Online Game players to collect one property toward an Online Winning Combination but will not trigger an instant win. Limit ten (10) Codes per day, per person and/or e-mail address. See Official Rules for restrictions, prize descriptions, ARVs, odds, how to play without purchase, and complete details. All prize claims are subject to verification. All monetary prizes in the Online Game will be awarded as prepaid cards, gift cards or reward cards and are subject to terms and conditions. American Express-branded prepaid cards are point based, with one point = $1 in purchasing power. The total value of all cash and prizes stated as being available is approximate, is stated as of the outset of the Online Game, and includes the value of all prizes available in restaurant (except Toys'R'Us Bucks and Foot Locker offers) and online in the Monopoly 2007 Game at McDonald's. The number of available prizes, and the corresponding value, will diminish as prizes are awarded. The number of prizes stated as still being available is approximate and is updated daily based on the average daily prize pool available in the Online Game. Prizes are predominantly food prizes and mobile or online game downloads. Restrictions and some limitations and exclusions apply to mobile and online game downloads. Standard text messaging and download charges apply to mobile downloads. The Free Parking Jackpot for today and/or the amount shown might already have been won. Void where prohibited. Guaranteed Bonus Game Pieces include Toys'R'Us Bucks, Foot Locker offers, instant win prizes or mobile downloads. Guaranteed Bonus Game Pieces are available on specially-marked Large French Fry boxes, Premium Chicken Sandwich boxes and 3-piece and 5-piece Chicken Selects boxes in the U.S. but are not available at any WalMart McDonald's restaurants.

MONOPOLY ™, ® & © 2007 Hasbro. American Express Incentive Services, L.L.C. © Foot Locker Retail, Inc. © 2007 Geoffrey, Inc. © 2007 McDonald's. The Golden Arches logo and i'm lovin' it are trademarks of McDonald's Corporation and affiliates.

Wow, the game is really bad this year. Worst Buy was bad, but Toys-R-Us? And the numbers... yikes. A flat limit of $5 in TRU Bucks on any 1 purchase. TRU Bucks expire Nov 13 so no BF deals.

After the hassle I had at BB last year I was hoping McD would have a new sponsor. Be careful what you wish for, eh? I was leaning to not participating this year anyway and this clinches it. Horrible contest this year. Simply awful.

Enjoy

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