New Treasure Hunt Alert: Jelly Belly founder sponsoring hunt to give away candy facto

MiddenMonster

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Dec 29, 2004
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It sounds like this is a part Forrest Fenn, part Willy Wonka treasure hunt. The Jelly Belly founder is hiding gold tickets around the country. People pay $50 to get the riddle for "their state's riddle". Then they go around their state, tearing up people's lawns, toppling statues and causing general mayhem while searching for a ticket that could get them the keys to a candy factory in Florida. Only one winner there, but finding a ticket will at least net you $5,000. Downside? It sounds like only 1,000 people per state can enter, and I bet most, if not all the slots are already snagged:

Jelly Belly founder to give away candy factory as part of 'gold ticket' treasure hunt

Good luck Mr. Gorsky...
 

Not sure owning a candy factory would be a benefit... I'd probably eat all the product!
 

arent sweepstakes you have to pay for illegal?
pay to play

The "riddle" you get for the $50 makes it legal. There are three elements that are required for a sweepstakes/lottery type game to be illegal: Prize, consideration and chance. There is definitely a prize in the form of a candy factory. The $50 is the consideration. But there is no chance involved with the riddle you have to solve; that's all skill. Since there is a limit of 1000 people per state riddle, I curious about whether the riddles are going to become public, or if the people who pay the $50 are going to guard them like their life depends on it. There are already Facebook groups dedicated to finding the gold cards, and people love to talk so are these riddles something that can really be kept within the groups of people who shelled out money? Or will this turn into a giant free for all when they become public and every candy loving yahoo in the country starts searching.

When I was in college, some campus organization was going to sponsor a contest related to basketball season. They hid a basket ball in the clock tower of a chapel on campus that they were going to have people hunt for to win a prize. But students being the curious type, one student found the basketball before the contest even started--or anyone even knew about, trashing the whole thing.
 

See a lawyer before entering this hunt.

Maybe even several lawyers, i.e. tax lawyers, labor lawyers, civil rights lawyers, etc. Who knows how much liability and encumbrance you could be taking on when they hand you the keys to the candy factory. What a bummer if you got a bunch of debt, ongoing lawsuits and federal inquiries when you assumed ownership. Come to think of it, I don't know how to run a candy factory. Even if it was sailing along in the black with no outstanding problems I could see myself running it right into the ground. For me, the strategy would probably be the same as if I won a bunch of stuff you get on those TV game shows: Sell everything immediately at bargain prices and pocket whatever cash it nets. I'm pretty good at handling cash.
 

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