For years, the McDonald’s Monopoly game made people believe they could win big. From free fries to million-dollar prizes, millions of people peeled those little game pieces, hoping to strike it rich. But what if we told you that the biggest prizes were never actually up for grabs?
This is the true story of how Jerry Jacobson stole millions of dollars by rigging the McDonald’s Monopoly game. It’s one of the biggest corporate scams in American history, and most people still don’t know it happened.
What Is the McDonald’s Monopoly Game?
The McDonald’s Monopoly game started in the 1980s. It worked like this: every time you bought food, you got game pieces. Some were instant winners, like a free soda or fries. Others were part of a Monopoly board. If you collected all the pieces in a set, like all the railroads or all the blue properties, you could win big prizes. These included cars, vacations, and even a million dollars.
However, from 1995 to 2001, none of the major prizes were won by actual customers. They were all stolen.
Meet Jerry Jacobson: The Man Behind the Scam
Jerry Jacobson was a former cop who got a job at a company called Simon Marketing. This company ran the McDonald’s Monopoly game. Jerry’s job was to deliver the high-value winning game pieces to factories. Those factories would then attach them to food packaging.
But Jerry had a plan. One day, a box of game piece seals was sent to him by mistake. These seals were used to close the envelopes holding the winning pieces. With these seals in hand, Jerry figured out how to open the envelopes, swap the real winners for fake ones, and reseal them without getting caught.
That’s when he started giving away the real winning pieces, for a price.
How Jerry Jacobson Sold Winning Game Pieces
Jerry Jacobson couldn’t win the prizes himself. That would be too suspicious. So he began selling the stolen pieces to friends, family members, and random people he met. He charged them a cut, usually tens of thousands of dollars upfront. In return, they got to “win” a prize like a car or a cash jackpot.
Eventually, Jerry linked up with Jerry Colombo, a man connected to the mob. Together, they ran a nationwide scam. They used drug runners and mob associates to find “winners” in different cities, so it wouldn’t look suspicious. But even with all that planning, it started to fall apart.
The FBI Steps In
The scam lasted for nearly seven years. Then an anonymous tip changed everything. Someone told the FBI that too many of the winners were related. That simple phone call launched a massive investigation.
The FBI tapped phones, tracked prize winners, and even created a fake TV production to arrest one of the suspects on camera. In the end, they arrested over 50 people, including Jerry Jacobson.
Jerry went to prison for three years and was ordered to pay back over $12 million. Even today, he’s still making small payments, about $357 a month. At that rate, he’ll never pay it off.
The Fallout from the McDonald’s Monopoly Scam
Because of Jerry Jacobson, every major McDonald’s Monopoly prize between 1995 and 2001 was fake. Real players never had a chance. McDonald’s claimed they didn’t know, and they cut ties with Simon Marketing. But the damage was done.
Today, many people still think they had a fair shot at winning. They didn’t. The game was rigged.
Final Thoughts
The story of Jerry Jacobson and the McDonald’s Monopoly scam serves as a stark reminder that not everything is as it seems. While millions of people believed they could win, one man was making sure they couldn’t. He took millions and almost got away with it.
The next time you see a sweepstakes or game that seems too good to be true, it just might be.
Things I Learned Last Night is an educational comedy podcast where best friends Jaron Myers and Tim Stone talk about random topics and have fun all along the way. If you like learning and laughing a lot while you do, you’ll love TILLN. Watch or listen to this episode right now!
Sources
McDonald’s Monopoly – Wikipedia
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