Articles & Book Chapters
Abstract:
In June 2001, the Massachusetts State Lottery Commission
released for sale a new “scratch-and-play” lottery game
card
named “Caesars [sic] Palace®” (played by scratching the
surface
of each card at designated spots to reveal hidden numbers
or
images). It offered a grand prize of $1,000,000 to players
whose
game cards contained certain spots that matched. Very soon,
numerous purchasers began to claim million-dollar prizes;
most of
these demands-for-payment were denied by the Commission on
the grounds that the claims were based upon a misreading of
the
game-card instructions. The claimants appealed, but their
appeals
were denied by a special hearing board appointed by the
Commission. Further appeal to state courts in Massachusetts
can
by law be based only on procedural grounds, not the facts
of the
case.
This paper analyzes the semantic, pragmatic, and
semiotic
bases for the claimants’ and Commission’s conflicting
interpretations of the instructions—a somewhat new
application of
linguistics to the field of language and law. The essay
also raises
theoretical questions concerning the relationship between
linguistics and semiotic theory in the context of real-
world data.