A US innkeeper broke no laws when she offered to give away her historic hotel to the winner of an essay contest that charged a US$125 entry fee, state police said following an investigation into the contest.
The owner of the Center Lovell Inn and Restaurant, located east of the White Mountains near theNew Hampshireborder, attracted national attention in March when she said she was retiring and planned to give away the property to the winner of an essay contest.
The catch was that owner Janice Sage planned to charge US$125 per entry to the contest and aimed for some 7,500 applicants ? enough to raise more than US$900,000, covering the cost of the property and providing US$20,000 in seed money for the new owner.
After naming the winners in June ? Prince and Rose Adams of the US Virgin Islands ? Sage came under public criticism that the contest had been unfair and that the winning couple were chosen because they had prior inn-keeping experience, according to local media reports.
?The investigation concluded that this was a game of skill, not a game of chance. State Police license games of chance, but there are no laws in Maine overseeing essay contests,? state police said in a statement, following 15 complaints about the contest.