A man from south suburban Chicagoland was hanging out in an Orland Park bar when a promotional team from Miller started handing out what appeared to be prize tickets.

The tickets started out, “No one knows that I…” and then featured a scrambled message that needed to be decoded using blue cellophane. Some of the tickets promised free bottle openers, or said cryptic things like “I like to take walks on the beach.”

Ed’s ticket said, “I won a million dollars.” After showing his friends to make sure he wasn’t seeing things, he called the Miller people over and asked them if it really said that he had won a million dollars. The “Miller Girl” said that it did, in fact, say that, but they “weren’t supposed to get that ticket.” Then she ripped the ticket out of Ed’s hands and walked away.

He’s understandably annoyed.

The expert Fox Chicago talked to thinks that Miller might be in violation of Illinois law, but Miller claims there never was a prize to begin with, and that the “won a million dollars” phrase was the same as the “like to walk on the beach” phrase.

Right. So why did the girl snatch the ticket away? Who knows. All we know is that we feel really bad for Ed. He seems like a nice guy and could certainly use a million dollars. At the very least, he didn’t deserve to have his head messed with like that.

What a crappy promotion!

Man Says He Won a Million Dollars from Miller Beer Contest, Company Denies It [Fox Chicago]

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