Ohio Man Offered Tanker Of Gas Or $15,000

[OhioChick]

Resort Has Contest

POSTED: 8:05 pm EDT April 19, 2008
UPDATED: 8:35 pm EDT April 19, 2008

WHEELING, W.Va. -- An eastern Ohio man won his choice of a tanker full of gas or $15,000 in cash from Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino-Racetrack.

The track across the Ohio River in West Virginia withheld the winner's name and didn't say which prize he chose. But they did say he was from Rayland in Jefferson County.

A Wheeling Island spokeswoman didn't immediately return a telephone message Saturday.

The winner won't be driving the tanker home, if he chose that option. Instead he would receive gift cards for 9,000 gallons of gas, the equivalent of a tanker truck.

With the price of gasoline at a record $3.41 a gallon in West Virginia, the fuel could be worth almost $31,000.

The track also gave away 14 $100 gas cards leading up to the grand prize drawing Friday night.

http://www.newsnet5.com/money/15934797/detail.html

I'd take either....how in the hell would one store that amount of fuel?

[Hugin]

1. You just watch... The next step is giving away disposable diapers and canned food as prizes on...

TeeVee game shows.

[gateley]

6. God. nt

[Hugin]

8. ...

I used to watch lots of South American TeeVee in the '80s.

[gateley]

12. I'm speechless. It's beyond heartbreaking. nt

[Hugin]

13. Which?

The subsistence prizes or the fact I watched lots of TeeVee in the '80s?

If it's the latter, I'm better now. :)

[gateley]

15. The sustenance prizes,

and that you're most like not too far off the mark in your prediction for the US.

But I AM relieved you've moved on with your life! :hi:

[SoCalDem]

18. I remember my Grandmother blubbering away at

"Queen For a Day".. These poor women would grovel and bare their souls for stuff like a washing machine or a refrigerator..

Like Springer ..only no face-punching or "who's yer daddy" moments..'




http://history.sandiego.edu/GEN/projects/hanley/queen.html

snip...

Queen For A Day was emceed by Jack Bailey, originally from Hampton, Iowa. Bailey acted in stock carnivals and tent shows before ending up at the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago as a barker. He moved to San Diego to try out radio and struggled for many years in that profession. In 1945 he got the job to host the radio version of Queen For A Day. He then went with the show when it went on television. He began every show with, " Do YOU want to be...QUEEN...FOR...A...DAY?" (5) TV Guide called Bailey television's "No. 1 mesmerizer of middle-aged females and most relentless dispenser of free washing machines." (6) The game went like this; Bailey interviewed four women on each show, whoever was in the worst shape-assessed by the audience 'applause meter' was crowned Queen For A Day. Bailey said about the winners, "It's not what they want, its why they want it that counts with us." Queen For A Day was considered a "sob show" of the 1950's. "Sure 'Queen' was vulgar and sleazy and filled with bathos and bad taste," wrote producer Howard Blake in an article for Fact magazine. "That was why it was so successful. It was exactly what the general public wanted....We got what we were after. Five thousand Queens got what they were after. And the TV audience cried their eyes out, morbidly delighted to find there were people worse off than they were, and so they got what they were after." (7) The show was the 'Cinderella fantasy,' and its beneficiaries were always women. The women who was chosen over the other hopefuls, by the level of audience applause, was selected Queen. She was draped in a sable-trimmed red velvet robe and a jeweled crown (see photo below of my Queen mom (!!) from the 1961 show). And more; she got whatever she had requested.

[gateley]

20. Your grandmother. Fuck.

I remember watching that show. Jesus I'm old.

[SoCalDem]

23. We did not have TV until 1962 so I only ever saw it when we were at their house

I watched it with her too :).. That, and her other "stories".."The Secret Storm" and "The Edge of Night"..:)

[TheMightyFavog]

16. They used to give away free gasoline on Classic Concentration, IIRC

I think they also did so on Press Your Luck, too IIRC.

[uppityperson]

19. What was that grocery shopping show? 2 minutes to grab as much as you could?

Or some short bit of time, with people racing through an empty grocery store with carts? I wonder if they'll start that again.

Edited add, Supermarket Sweep. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermarket_Sweep

[Captain Angry]

2. You take the cash.

You can't easily resell 9000 gallons of fuel gift cards. There's not exactly a secondary market for gas gift cards.

Since you don't get the fuel itself, it can't be resold straight up to a gas station.

That $15K can be invested, can be used immediately, could buy a major chunk of a fuel efficient car, etc.

That's a wild prize though. It's like Bart Simpson winning the elephant. :-)

[OhioChick]

14. That was my first thought regarding the fuel...

Even if you could manage to resell it, wouldn't you need a license of sorts?

[RB TexLa]

22. No market?

http://www.cardavenue.com/

not to mention www.ebay.com

:shrug:

[dkf]

3. I hope he took the gas...its only going to get more expensive.

[Whoa_Nelly]

4. um...he wouldn't be storing it

The winner won't be driving the tanker home, if he chose that option. Instead he would receive gift cards for 9,000 gallons of gas, the equivalent of a tanker truck.


I definitely would take the fuel...but, then again, $15k sure would be a nice boost to pay off some debt...damn hard choice.
Still think I would go for the fuel.

[AlCzervik]

7. if gas prices stay where they are were i live that 9,000 gallons is worth $35,000.

[tridim]

5. This has a kind of Road Warrior vibe to it.

[mth44sc]

9. As someone who commutes 140 miles 4 days a week

I'm takin' the gas...

[mikelewis]

10. Take the card and auction it on E-bay with a min bid of $15k...

[razors edge]

11. I would demand the tanker.

And after I gave the gas away to all comers, (couldn't sell it outright, tax issues and such) I would sell the tanker.

[Jamastiene]

17. If he got 900 $100 gas cards, he could auction

some of them on Ebay at slightly less than they are worth and use the rest for himself. He would still come out ahead if he struck NOW. Soon as we get rid of Bush, gas prices are going to go back down.

[Vinca]

21. Take the tanker. Gas is going to $4.00 a gallon. nt

[Rosemary2205]

24. he'll probably be FORCED to take the cash by the IRS

I believe the IRS will demand about $16,000 from him before they allow him to have the 9000 gal in gas cards.

[Greyhound]

25. Definately the gas, even at the personal income rate, he's way ahead

and the asset will continue to appreciate. Gift cards for 9,000 gal. of gas, held for a year could easily be worth $30K after taxes.