He notified McDonald’s that he had won the prize, but instead of getting his million dollars, he got arrested when, as part of the sting operation, two FBI agents showed up at his home pretending to be from McDonald’s documenting his win on camera. According to Hoover, that ticket was the winner. Hoover said he had purchased a People magazine and discovered an ad for an “Instant Win” game piece. The agency launched an investigation that unearthed the conspiracy.Īfter convincing McDonald’s leadership to continue the game in 2001 after they were informed about the FBI’s investigation, the agency set up a sting to nab Michael Hoover, the man who said he won the 2001 prize. The scheme came to an end when the FBI received an anonymous call about a $1 million prize winner. His network won almost every prize for the next 12 years, according to the FBI. He decided to resurrect the scheme he pulled off in 1989 when he gave his brother the $25,000 ticket.įrom that point, Jacobson reportedly spent the next decade stealing and then handing out winning game pieces to family members and the collection of 'mobsters, psychics, strip club owners, convicts, drug traffickers, and even a family of Mormons” for a piece of the prize, according to the story. In 1995, according to Jacobson, he said he witnessed Simon Marketing re-do a random drawing that would have sent a big prize to a winner in Canada. Jacobson pocketed the first winning game piece in 1989, according to the story, and gave it to his stepbrother just to “see if I could do it.” He could do it and get away with it, and the piece was worth $25,000. It led to the plan to steal and cash-in on the game pieces. Jacobson’s attention to detail became more than a source of job pride. 'He inspected workers' shoes to check they weren't stealing McDonald's game pieces,' a former colleague of Jacobson's told the Daily Beast. By all outward appearances, he took the job seriously. Simon Marketing managed the printing of the game pieces, and was responsible for transporting them from Dittler Brothers to packaging factories for distribution.īecause Jacobson was on the ground in Georgia, the integrity of the trail of the game pieces fell to him. Jacobson oversaw production for Dittler’s client, Simon Marketing, and eventually, Simon hired him to oversee their $500 million contract with McDonald’s. The Daily Beast story tracked Jacobson’s scheme as it was hatched in the 1980s when he took a job at Dittler Brothers Printing. He would then pass them along to family members and acquittances in exchange for a cut of the prize. Jacobson’s scheme involved stealing the game pieces from Dittler Brothers Printing, the Oakwood, Georgia, printing company where they were produced.

Jerry Jacobson, a former police officer, was the kingpin of the operation. How did it happen and how was it found out? Here’s a look at the scheme and the key player.

Mcdonald’s monopoly rigged