Opinion
42659.
ARGUED MARCH 6, 1967.
DECIDED APRIL 24, 1967.
Action to recover prize money. Douglas Superior Court. Before Judge Foster, Emeritus.
Noland Coney, John L. Coney, for appellant.
A. H. Leatherwood, Sr., for appellee.
This case is controlled by the case of Boyd v. Piggly Wiggly Southern, Inc., 115 Ga. App. 628. Accordingly, the court erred in its judgment overruling the renewed general demurrer to the petition as amended, which sought a recovery based upon the defendant's unlawful scheme.
Judgment reversed. Hall and Eberhardt, JJ., concur.
ARGUED MARCH 6, 1967 — DECIDED APRIL 24, 1967.
Mrs. Sarah C. Boatright brought an action in Douglas Superior Court against Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc. to recover on an indebtedness allegedly arising out of a sales promotion scheme. The petition as amended alleges substantially as follows: The defendant operates a chain of grocery stores throughout several southeastern states. In order to promote sales in its several stores, it advertised its invitation to the plaintiff and the general public to participate in a sales promotion scheme which it termed a "Two for the Money" game. Under the rules of said game as advertised, each customer was given a ticket during such customer's visit to one of such stores, or tickets might also be clipped from the newspaper ads of the sponsoring stores. Each ticket consisted of two halves, on each of which halves was a block marked "you win $ ," leaving after the dollar sign a blank space. The customer was instructed to apply bleach to the blank space, which would make legible the previously invisible amount. Customers were invited to participate in the game at all stores of the defendant, and informed that, upon matching a left and a right half of such tickets with the same amount, the amount so matched would be won by such customer. The plaintiff accepted the defendant's invitation to participate in the game and visited its stores in Daytona Beach, Florida and Douglasville, Georgia. Upon her bringing out by bleach the previously invisible amounts in the blocks on the tickets obtained in said stores, plaintiff matched four left and right halves of said tickets with the amounts of $500 on both halves, and matched one left and one right half of said tickets with the amount of $5 on each half, and, according to the rules of the game as advertised and as shown on the back of each of said tickets, was entitled to the sum of $2,005, copies of which matched ticket halves are attached as exhibits to the petition. Upon the plaintiff's attempting to cash said tickets for the amounts shown in blocks upon both left and right halves, defendant denied that plaintiff had won in said game because the code numbers did not also match. The advertisement inviting her to participate in the game made no mention of matching code numbers, but merely matching halves of same value. After the plaintiff succeeded in matching amounts herein before indicated and was refused payment as aforesaid, the defendant changed its advertisements to require that the code numbers as well as the amounts on the left and right halves of the tickets be matched in order to be eligible to win in the game.
The defendant appeals from the judgments of the trial court overruling the general and some special demurrers to the petition and the renewed general demurrer and additional special demurrer to the petition as amended.