Radio listeners might have heard the kind of annoying commercials on BP/Amoco’s Gold Standard Game, which rewards customers for purchasing more than eight gallons of Amoco Ultimate by offering a chance to win “free gas for life” — that is, a $1,200 Amoco Ultimate prepaid gas card every year for 50 years. With an eight gallon purchase, customers receive a scratch-off card with two chances to win — once at the station, and once by entering a code onto the contest’s website. Second prize is free gas for a year.

Now, we’re normally not Ultimate gas purchasers; our little Honda is fine with regular, thank you very much. But our curiousity was piqued by the contest until we heard the fine print: the offer was not valid in, among other areas, Maryland and Virginia. A quick call to BP Customer Relations revealed that all gas station contests such as this one are illegal in Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, and Delaware. The representative was unable to give any further details.

Though we’re not sure why this restriction exists, we do know that it significantly increases the cost of partipation in the contest. Last we checked (and this was a couple of hours ago), Amoco Ultimate at a super-cheap Kenilworth Ave. NE station cost $2.49 a gallon; we imagine Ultimate in more pricey parts of D.C. is even more expensive. So a chance to win free gas could run you at least $20.

This ignores the contest’s prize itself, a $1,200 card that supposedly will cover Amoco Ultimate for a year. If the average price of Ultimate plateaus at $2.50 a gallon, that’s about 35 full tanks a year with a 14 gallon tank. So in a sense, if you win in D.C. you’re lucky — that’s probably more than enough. But good luck to you if you win and live somewhere that requires significantly more driving; though we hope for something different, $1,200 may not be enough for a year’s worth of gas a decade from now, unless you buy a hybrid.