Open to Legal Residents of the US and Canada

Outside it feels like a heavy weight has been lifted. It isn't spring, of course, just not oppressive near-zero winter: the first step out of the pit. Serious meltage throughout the day, however, leaving puddles that turn to ice at night.

Recently I took a look at the back of a receipt I got at a certain chain of restaurants, let's call it Mickey's, which had on it some of the fine print for a sweepstakes. Among other things, it said: "Open only to legal residents of the US and Canada (other than the Province of Quebec), 15 years of age or older." This was in bold, so it must be important. But why not Quebec? Because the contest has to be exclusively in French to be valid there?

More intriguing, the next sentence says: "In order to win, a Canadian resident must correctly answer a skill testing question." Huh? Is that some federal regulation in Canada? Unless there's a "skill testing question," it counts as gambling? Or maybe it's anti-Canadian bias on the part of Mickey's -- in which case the question might be, "What was the capital of ancient Assyria?"