Judge decides whether to block Elon Musk's super PAC's final election 'lottery' giveaway

A Pennsylvania judge has declined to issue an emergency order that would block tech billionaire Elon Musk's super PAC from issuing its final daily $1 million prize to registered voters who sign his Constitution pledge, reported Reuters — a scheme that many of his critics have said is an illegal "lottery."

The daily draw, hosted by the Musk-backed America PAC, has already paid out $16 million to various registered voters.

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner sued to block the scheme, accusing Musk of interfering in the election. The case was briefly thrown up in the air after Musk's legal team sought to move it to federal court, but a federal judge shut the effort down and moved the case back to state court.

The ruling does not legally clear Musk's lottery scheme and litigation will continue There is nothing to stop the PAC from making a final giveaway before the election.

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During Monday arguments, Musk's counsel argued that the promotion wasn't actually an illegal lottery, because prizewinners were not chosen randomly and instead hand-selected to be paid in return for representing the super PAC and its work positively.

But it's unclear whether the explanation makes the lottery legitimate. As The Atlantic's James Surowiecki pointed out, Musk got people to sign up by claiming it was a random draw, saying, "We are going to be awarding a million dollars, randomly, to anyone who signs the petition." A principal governing law for private sweepstakes is that if it's advertised as a sweepstakes, the winner cannot be hand-picked and entrants cannot be required to give a purchase or other thing of value.

Krasner is not the only official warning Musk his scheme could be illegal; the Justice Department sent a warning letter that the giveaway could violate federal law.

All of this comes as America PAC faces a separate class-action lawsuit from people it subcontracted as canvassers on behalf of the GOP, who allege they were promised hourly compensation but then were instead made to meet a quota of doors knocked.