How an Ex-Cop Rigged McDonald’s Monopoly Game and Stole Millions

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

Long but good read on a crazy criminal conspiracy.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-an-ex-cop-rigged-mcdonalds-monopoly-game-and-stole-millions

“Jacobson took the stand dressed in a blue golf shirt, looking tired and gray. One attorney described him as “a gigantic master criminal,” before he admitted to stealing up to 60 game pieces over a dozen years, totaling over $24 million in prizes. “All I can tell you is I made the biggest mistake of my life,” he said quietly, before agreeing to pay $12.5 million in restitution. The judge sent him to jail for 37 months. He did not pass go. But before leaving the court he shook hands with the man who brought him to justice. Perhaps Jacobson saw in Richard Dent the man he could have been, a steely-minded detective. Dent, who declined to be interviewed for this article because he does not speak to the media, quietly returned to his work on white collar crime, and is now retired.”

 

[Carl Spackler 3480]

Wow, I had never heard about this.  The fact the case went to trial one day before 9/11 undoubtedly had something to do with that.  And now I know why I never won anything more than a free side of fries in that damned Monopoly game.

[Bash Riprock 1695]

this would be a good movie

Edited July 29, 2018 by Bash Riprock

[Lhorn 4913]

I had a friend who worked at a movie theater in high school who found out that winning game pieces in the theater's promotion had a specific tiny number printed on the back.  He took out many of those game pieces for himself.  Prizes included free popcorn and such.  

[Beau Vine 54211]

"Don't pass go, motherfucker!"

[Bash Riprock 1695]

57 minutes ago, Lhorn said:

I had a friend who worked at a movie theater in high school who found out that winning game pieces in the theater's promotion had a specific tiny number printed on the back.  He took out many of those game pieces for himself.  Prizes included free popcorn and such.  

what a daredevil 

[Clintonaldo 2574]

2 hours ago, Bash Riprock said:

what a daredevil 

Lol. Same guy ordered water but always splashed some lemonade on there. 

[miguelito 11262]

I remember when the Daily Texan would have the game pieces in them, because some asshole would go around campus and steal all the papers.  Then I couldn't do the crossword puzzle that day.  Asshole.

[Knoxtnhorn 5974]

Thanks Hugo.  Good read.

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

On 7/29/2018 at 4:27 PM, Bash Riprock said:

this would be a good movie

SOLD!

 

[Rusty Shackelford 414]

SOLD!
 

#BeastBrag

[utee94 15811]

For the 1988 summer Olympic games, McDonald's had a promo where they gave away game pieces with purchase, that had an event on them and if the USA won gold, you got a free big mac, if the USA won silver you got a free fry, and if the USA won bronze you got a free coke.

But they never counted on the fact that my high school friend who worked at McDonald's would be giving away scores upon scores of unearned tickets.  Since the USA does pretty well in the summer Olympics, many of those hit for gold and silver, and I ate free big macs and fries pretty much daily for a month or whatever the duration of that promo was. It might not have been $24 million, but I'm guessing I got at least a free $80 off that deal.  Which, to a hungry high school junior, is a fortune.

[Prepuce of Doom 21065]

When I was in high school, Taco Bell had some punch card promotion for the Rocky and Bullwinkle movie. With each purchase, you would get a card about the size of a dollar bill (maybe a little smaller) and if you collected 10, 20, 30, or 40 punches with their bell-shaped hole punch (one per taco) you would earn various prizes. For collecting 40 punches, the grand prize was a free t-shirt. 

I stole the special hole punch off the counter at lunch one day, and a buddy of mine stole the stack of punch cards from a different Taco Bell the following day at lunch. 

There were lots of free tacos and t-shirts. 

[Homercles 10205]

Saw this last week. That McDs game always felt rigged, by having one key piece that everyone wanted, you just knew someone was hoarding them.

[henrygandorf 29189]

i always thought the monopoly promotion was genius by mcdonald's, because i assumed the biggest prizes had only 1-2 possible winners (like there would only be 2 boardwalk pieces in the world in a year).  the odds that someone who's actively playing the game and keeping up overlapped with the placement of that one piece seemed astronomically small.  therefore, they created a fun game that people liked, but never had to pay off on the bigger prizes (and if they did, i assumed insurance was involved).  i haven't read article yet, so i'm sure i'll learn more about this situation, but fuck it, i wish he got to keep the shit he "won".  pretty sure mcdonald's is gonna do ok.

affleck's a solid director, i'm excited for this.  i read about the bidding war earlier.

[Stoogey 219]

2 hours ago, henrygandorf said:

  pretty sure mcdonald's is gonna do ok.

User's name is very fitting. The Sting. Henry Gandorf would have pulled out after the first scam with a better payday.  

I'm certain McDonald's can afford it, too.

Don't recall reading this in the article. Possibly I glossed over it. Is McDonald's awarding the prizes? Yes, the Big Macs and french fries and Coca-Colas. I mean the big prizes. 

The reason I ask, there was a charity golf tournament in which I participated. As incentives, there were pro football players and and celebrities playing along in the foursomes, outstanding buffet lunch and supper, drinks, pretty girls on the drinks cart. And, if you got a hole-in-one on the seventh, you won a brand spankin' new GMC Yukon or something. 

Some guy hit a hole-in-one on the seventh.

Except for one thing. It was supposed to be the eighth hole. 

The insurance company insuring the prize refused to award the Yukon. The guy sued the charitable tournament. That was a revelation that a man I considered a peer would act so ungentlemanly. He won. After taxes and legal fees it was a Pyrrhic victory. If he hadn't behaved like a little bitch, things would have worked out differently.

I digress.

Curious. Whether it was an insured or a direct loss, I am thinking McDonald's was more concerned about the integrity of the game and their public image.   

[Bevo 13576]

1 hour ago, Stoogey said:

User's name is very fitting. The Sting. Henry Gandorf would have pulled out after the first scam with a better payday.  

I'm certain McDonald's can afford it, too.

Don't recall reading this in the article. Possibly I glossed over it. Is McDonald's awarding the prizes? Yes, the Big Macs and french fries and Coca-Colas. I mean the big prizes. 

The reason I ask, there was a charity golf tournament in which I participated. As incentives, there were pro football players and and celebrities playing along in the foursomes, outstanding buffet lunch and supper, drinks, pretty girls on the drinks cart. And, if you got a hole-in-one on the seventh, you won a brand spankin' new GMC Yukon or something. 

Some guy hit a hole-in-one on the seventh.

Except for one thing. It was supposed to be the eighth hole. 

The insurance company insuring the prize refused to award the Yukon. The guy sued the charitable tournament. That was a revelation that a man I considered a peer would act so ungentlemanly. He won. After taxes and legal fees it was a Pyrrhic victory. If he hadn't behaved like a little bitch, things would have worked out differently.

I digress.

Curious. Whether it was an insured or a direct loss, I am thinking McDonald's was more concerned about the integrity of the game and their public image.   

If this is the same case I remember, reporters said it was some guy who worked at the company that made the game pieces. He gave the winning pieces to friends and relatives...

McDonald's fries would mess up my stomach but I would still go there for the game pieces. After the news hit, McDonald's went to some poor neighborhood (I think in Florida but it has been awhile since it happened) and gave away the winning ticket to a person of need. I am sure McDonald's thought it would help create good PR. It kind of pissed me off and I don't know if I have been back without my kids since it happened.

[Stoogey 219]

44 minutes ago, Bevo said:

If this is the same case I remember, reporters said it was some guy who worked at the company that made the game pieces. He gave the winning pieces to friends and relatives...

McDonald's fries would mess up my stomach but I would still go there for the game pieces. After the news hit, McDonald's went to some poor neighborhood (I think in Florida but it has been awhile since it happened) and gave away the winning ticket to a person of need. I am sure McDonald's thought it would help create good PR. It kind of pissed me off and I don't know if I have been back without my kids since it happened.

No. It was a golf tournament to raise money to fight childhood cancer.




 

[skittlebrau 474]

All of those hole-in-one things are insured. The charity/company putting on the event pay the insurance company a super low price, and the insurance companies pays out if someone hits it. Cost is low because they almost never pay out. The policy has requirements about minimum distances/witnesses/etc and has to list the specific hole.

 

The charity must have put the sign on the wrong hole, which means they didn’t have an insurance policy to back it up and were liable out of pocket.

[Fudge Nuggets 19190]

He stole $24 million worth of shit, agreed to pay back $12.5 million.  For $11.5 million I might consider doing 37 months in prison.

[HornsOverIthaca 2333]

Depends on the kind of prison I would say.

[DanRydell 799]

2 hours ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

He stole $24 million worth of shit, agreed to pay back $12.5 million.  For $11.5 million I might consider doing 37 months in prison.

Based on the article, he was selling the pieces to the person who would claim the prize for like 25% of the prize value, so the restitution seems like it's probably more than he netted out.

[Homercles 10205]

Depends on the kind of prison I would say.

In these conjugal visits...you can have sex with women?

[woohorn 1131]

He stole $24 million worth of shit, agreed to pay back $12.5 million.  For $11.5 million I might consider doing 37 months in prison.

I saw response, but still this. White collar criminals (esp. insider trading) get really light sentences.

[RPM 26318]

My sister used to be a regional manager for a convenience store chain in South Carolina. One of her jobs was to empty and audit the video slots. She could see when a machine was close to payoff and would spend $20 - 30 bucks of her own money to win the jackpot.

[Noah Fence 480]

On 8/2/2018 at 11:00 PM, utee94 said:

For the 1988 summer Olympic games, McDonald's had a promo where they gave away game pieces with purchase, that had an event on them and if the USA won gold, you got a free big mac, if the USA won silver you got a free fry, and if the USA won bronze you got a free coke.

But they never counted on the fact that my high school friend who worked at McDonald's would be giving away scores upon scores of unearned tickets.  Since the USA does pretty well in the summer Olympics, many of those hit for gold and silver, and I ate free big macs and fries pretty much daily for a month or whatever the duration of that promo was. It might not have been $24 million, but I'm guessing I got at least a free $80 off that deal.  Which, to a hungry high school junior, is a fortune.

Did the same thing in '84.  The Russians boycotted and  the US won a medal in nearly every event.  I ate so many Big Macs that summer, I haven't eaten one since.

[utee94 15811]

9 minutes ago, Noah Fence said:

Did the same thing in '84.  The Russians boycotted and  the US won a medal in nearly every event.  I ate so many Big Macs that summer, I haven't eaten one since.

Yeah I was a little too young in '84 to have stoner friends that worked at McDonald's.  But I do remember all the hubbub about how McDonald's had overplayed its hand in '84 with the Russian boycott, and speculation that they wouldn't repeat it in '88. I was glad they did.  My gut, not so much.

 

[El Diablo 4232]

When I was growing up we'd go to the Catholic church festival in my moms hometown, annual affair. They had a booth where you could buy a game ticket "Bars and Bells", kind of like a slot machine and you'd peel off the three rows to reveal whether you'd won or not. Top prize I think was $50. Anyway, they'd throw the returned playing pieces into a jar off to the side that nobody really paid much attention to. I'm not saying my cousin and I stole pieces and cashed them in but my cousin and I stole pieces that had already been paid on and turned them in and got paid. See you in Hell cousin Richard!

[DallasHorn26 586]

CSB: my mom actually collected all 3 light blues taking me for my weekly happy meals back some time around 88 or so. She one a $1000 shopping spree to Sears. We even had our picture in the local paper.

[C-Man 27214]

On 8/2/2018 at 11:00 PM, utee94 said:

For the 1988 summer Olympic games, McDonald's had a promo where they gave away game pieces with purchase, that had an event on them and if the USA won gold, you got a free big mac, if the USA won silver you got a free fry, and if the USA won bronze you got a free coke.

But they never counted on the fact that my high school friend who worked at McDonald's would be giving away scores upon scores of unearned tickets.  Since the USA does pretty well in the summer Olympics, many of those hit for gold and silver, and I ate free big macs and fries pretty much daily for a month or whatever the duration of that promo was. It might not have been $24 million, but I'm guessing I got at least a free $80 off that deal.  Which, to a hungry high school junior, is a fortune.

[C-Man 27214]

On 8/3/2018 at 7:31 AM, Homercles said:

Saw this last week. That McDs game always felt rigged, by having one key piece that everyone wanted, you just knew someone was hoarding them.

I swear the supermarket Monopoly is unwinnable. We had thousands of tickets and every category totally filled except for one ticket and never got it.

[C-Man 27214]

On 8/5/2018 at 10:22 AM, DanRydell said:

Based on the article, he was selling the pieces to the person who would claim the prize for like 25% of the prize value, so the restitution seems like it's probably more than he netted out.

The Feds also took all of his shit -- cars, houses, etc.

[Deej 76759]

Anyone remember HEB's "Let's Go to the Races" game? You'd get a game card with horse's names, and then at 6:30 on a Saturday after the local news, they'd show old horse races and if a name on your card won, you'd win.

[utee94 15811]

5 hours ago, El Diablo said:

When I was growing up we'd go to the Catholic church festival in my moms hometown, annual affair. They had a booth where you could buy a game ticket "Bars and Bells", kind of like a slot machine and you'd peel off the three rows to reveal whether you'd won or not. Top prize I think was $50. Anyway, they'd throw the returned playing pieces into a jar off to the side that nobody really paid much attention to. I'm not saying my cousin and I stole pieces and cashed them in but my cousin and I stole pieces that had already been paid on and turned them in and got paid. See you in Hell cousin Richard!

username checks out

[jimmyjazz 45898]

19 hours ago, El Diablo said:

When I was growing up we'd go to the Catholic church festival in my moms hometown, annual affair. They had a booth where you could buy a game ticket "Bars and Bells", kind of like a slot machine and you'd peel off the three rows to reveal whether you'd won or not. Top prize I think was $50. Anyway, they'd throw the returned playing pieces into a jar off to the side that nobody really paid much attention to. I'm not saying my cousin and I stole pieces and cashed them in but my cousin and I stole pieces that had already been paid on and turned them in and got paid. See you in Hell cousin Richard!

Our scam was roughly as stupid, given the odds of getting caught:  we'd steal returned Coke bottles off the loading dock behind the local IGA supermarket, bring them up front and return them for 5 cents a bottle.  There were two flaws in the plan:  we weren't subtle enough to just do it once a day or so, we practically had a bucket brigade going, and beyond that, what were we gonna do when someone walked out back for a smoke and caught us (which is what happened)?

[El Diablo 4232]

34 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Our scam was roughly as stupid, given the odds of getting caught:  we'd steal returned Coke bottles off the loading dock behind the local IGA supermarket, bring them up front and return them for 5 cents a bottle.  There were two flaws in the plan:  we weren't subtle enough to just do it once a day or so, we practically had a bucket brigade going, and beyond that, what were we gonna do when someone walked out back for a smoke and caught us (which is what happened)?

That reminds me of another one - there were these big suckers, can't remember the brand name but I think they only came in grape or cherry. Anyway they were sold individually wrapped for maybe a nickel each. Inside the wrapper every so many you'd find "You've won a free one!". Some stores didn't keep them right at the register so at these stores we'd find the bin of suckers and stand there unwrapping them and re-wrapping them until we found ones that had the winners. Then we'd buy that one and be all excited! BOGO!

[luke duke 6412]

I had a friend who worked at a movie theater in high school who found out that winning game pieces in the theater's promotion had a specific tiny number printed on the back.  He took out many of those game pieces for himself.  Prizes included free popcorn and such.  

The Wendy’s game pieces in the late ‘90s had a tell as well. I could win with every piece. I ate a lot of Wendy’s in the Union that semester.