Just doing some more research for my daughter with regard to her upcoming beer tap room. She’s brain-storming some marketing ideas and asked me if I thought it would be legal to do a game of chance (pick a card, roll dice, pick a roulette wheel number) to receive a discount on your next beer. I haven’t been able to find anything specifically straightforward in the CA ABC Code of the CA Biz/Professional Codes, but what I DO find seems to say it could be illegal based on the prohibition of giving away alcohol in an on-premise licensed location. There is also some language in the codes prohibiting gambling/games of chance in connection with alcohol sales (though there were some changes this year related to supplier-supported promotions, but no reference to retail licensees).
But… (and I hesitate to apply too much logic to this) how is discounting a beer if you pick a number on a roulette wheel different from giving a discount if you wear a pink shirt or answer a trivia question… or are they all illegal? Certainly offering a discount at Happy Hour is OK, but it’s the game of chance that seems to make this sticky, and also that it’s not discounted to everyone … only the winners.
I’d be very appreciative of specific legal references on this as well as any anecdotal info. Alcohol laws are often shrouded in a certain level of imperceptibility. In the past I’ve just called the ABC with a question like this, but found the answer can depend on who answers the phone. I know there are attorneys who specialize in this stuff, but building out a bar is going to be costly enough for her, so she’s not jumping at the idea of that cost for this early research.
Thanks for whatever you can suggest.