Ben Stein's E-Trade Contest
Ben Stein is known to most of us from his deadpan appearances in movies such as Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Honeymoon in Vegas.
Since July 1997, he has hosted the Comedy Central quiz show Win Ben Stein's Money.
And now on The Early Show, Stein says he wants to give away somebody else's million dollars.
Author, magazine columnist, lawyer, film and TV actor, presidential speechwriter, professor and television game show host, Stein now wants to talk about money because everything seems funny when you are making money, he says.
He is a spokesman for the E-Million Mania contest, which will award $1 million to the person who most accurately predicts the closing of the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Dec. 31, 1999.
The point is to show that the ordinary guy out there in Des Moines or Boise can guess where the stock market is going as well as the experts on Wall Street. That's [been] shown to be true," says Stein.
The winning entry must name the closest volume within the 100th decimal place (such as 12,000.58).
If more than one entrant names the correct closing figure, the winner will be selected by a random drawing from the pool of correct predictions.
The contest, sponsored by E*TRADE, is open from Nov. 8 through Nov. 28, 1999, or until 10,000,000 entries are received, whichever comes sooner.
And it promotes online trading because "it's the cheapest, fastest, most efficient way to trade," says Stein.
Entrants must be 18 years or older to enter and must be both residents and citizens of the United States.
Entries can be submitted via the E-Million Mania Web site.
The winner will be announced in January.
Oldsmobile is also sponsoring the event. Each Saturday, from now through Nov. 27, 1999, Oldsmobile will host a random drawing. Winners will receive a 2000 Oldsmobile Intrigue GL Sedan.
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