Man wins $1 Million in Santa Anita promotion

The world of promotions is not all about the ones coming up but also about who wins them.  A man by the name of John Placzankis was the big winner at a yearly Santa Anita horse racing track St. Patrick's day promotion.  The promotion gave 5 randomly selected applicants the chance to win $1 million by throwing a single horseshoe, a ringer would win that lucky person the prize money.  John Placzankis was the second of the 5 to throw his horseshoe, with no practice tosses, and achieved the coveted ringer while everyone else apparently didn't even come close.  I know what you're thinking he probably plays everyday at his home in Rancho Cucamonga, CA, but you would be wrong because according to John he hasn't thrown a horseshoe "in like 30 years" and he just relaxed and "tried to not to cross the line while throwing it like a softball."  

 

This ringer also scored Placzankis the number 4 slot on ESPN's top 10 plays of the day, and a write up entitled Man wins $1 million in Santa Anita promotion on the ESPN website by Jay Privman.  To get a write up on ESPN for tossing one horseshoe is pretty amazing, well besides the fact that that one horseshoe also won him one million dollars.  The money, Placzankis says, will go towards "paying some bills, and taking care of nieces, nephews, and his mom back home in New Rochelle NY," his hometown, he only moved out to California 8 years ago.

 

This promotion offered a lucky person a taxed $1 million dollars.  This promotion should alter the way contests and promotions are organized and the value of the prize.  However giving away such a large amount of money or a high priced item is not very common for promotions or contests.  Also this promotion has been going on for a couple of years now so it does not seem like it is affecting other contests.  However it might put pressure on some companies in the same area of business that feel they might have to keep up and offer good prizes to their consumers, which is a positive because we the consumers benefit!  Another thing about this promotion is that it brings in good business to the racetrack as well as giving someone an amazing life changing prize which is positive in both aspects.  John Placzankis is a lucky man, and it seems like he will use his prize money to help many people, he even announced "the drinks are on me" to the crowd after his prize winning toss.