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The Man Who Rigged McDonald's Monopoly Game for a Decade (1989–2001)

For twelve years, the house always won the McDonald's Monopoly game — because the house was stealing the winning pieces.

The Complaints Department

The Complaints Department

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A Monopoly board game token on the Chance square
Photo: rawpixel (CC0)

From 1989 to 2001, the biggest prizes in the McDonald's Monopoly game — including every $1 million top prize — were stolen before a single customer had a real chance to win them.

Jerome Jacobson, head of security at the marketing firm that printed and distributed the winning game pieces, pulled the high-value stickers out of the supply chain himself and passed them to a network of recruiters, who sold them on to "winners" in exchange for a cut of the prize.

Over twelve years, the scheme diverted an estimated $24 million in cars, cash, and vacations to Jacobson's associates and their friends and family, while McDonald's kept advertising the game as a fair, nationwide giveaway.

The FBI opened an investigation in 2000 after an anonymous tip, and arrests followed in August 2001. Jacobson pleaded guilty to mail fraud; more than fifty people connected to the scheme were eventually charged.

Filed from public reporting:

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