The Maine State Police are investigating whether a Maine woman broke the law in a recent essay contest to give away her 210-year-old inn, Sergeant Michael Johnston of the State Police’s special investigations unit said. 
 
 The Center Lovell Inn and Restaurant, with spectacular views of the White Mountains, was awarded June 6 to a US Virgin Islands couple who ran a Caribbean-style restaurant on St. John. Janice Sage, the Maine innkeeper who held the essay contest, said Prince and Rose Adams were chosen from thousands of entrants who each submitted a 200-word essay and $125 entry fee. 
 
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 Now, dozens of unsuccessful contestants are crying foul about what they argue, among other concerns, was deceptive advertising. The group has organized as the Center Lovell Contest Fair Practices Commission and complained that Sage incorrectly stated that no advantage would be granted to restaurant or inn owners. 
 
 “One of the many allegations against Janice Sage and the contest she sponsored is that the advertising of the contest . . . was illegally deceptive and violated consumer-rights regulations, intentionally coercing thousands of people to enter a contest that they never had an actual chance of winning,” said Kelley Prass Collins, who founded the group. 
 
 “In short, Janice Sage was advertising a contest for ‘dreamers’ who would never have the chance to own an inn and restaurant, and then handed the prize to just such a business owner.” 
 
 Neither Sage nor the Adamses could be reached for comment Monday. 
 
 Maine State Police said their investigation is narrowly tailored to determine whether the contest violated state law on games of skill. Under the law, which is an older statute primarily written to cover carnival games, operators of such games are prohibited from partially or completely controlling the outcome. 
 
 Entrants into the Center Lovell Inn contest had been told the winner would be chosen by an independent, local panel of judges. 
 
 “We have received some complaints, so we are being responsive to that and are looking into it to determine if any violations of the [state] law occurred,” Johnston said. “We’re not there to determine if other federal laws or rules may have been violated, such as through the Federal Trade Commission, or whether any potential civil liability may exist.” 
 
 Sage said she received fewer than the 7,500 entries she had sought. But at $125 per essay, Sage said, she secured enough money for retirement after running the inn for 22 years. 
 
 Sage won the inn in much the same way. After managing a busy Maryland restaurant for years, Sage said, she wanted a change and submitted the winning essay to acquire the sprawling inn and restaurant in a previous contest. 
 
 Johnston said the investigation is expected to be completed within a week. 
 
 “The contestants may want to consult a qualified private attorney to determine if there are any other options,” Johnston said. ||||| Janice Sage acquired the inn in an essay contest 22 years ago, and she wants to pass it on the same way. 
 
 LOVELL, Maine — Wanted: new owner for a classic Maine inn. Experience: whatever you’ve got. Requirements: 200 words of pithy persuasion. 
 
 Oh, also needed is a willingness to work 17 hours a day. 
 
 But for anyone who has day-dreamed of jumping off the 9-to-5 treadmill and running a country inn, Janice Sage is offering an essay contest to let them do just that. 
 
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 Sage owns the Center Lovell Inn and Restaurant, three hours north of Boston, and is ready to retire 22 years after she acquired the place in a previous essay contest. 
 
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 “She’s a beauty,” Sage said of the rambling, 210-year-old inn, which has magnificent views of the Presidential Range. “Who doesn’t want to wake up in the morning and see these mountains?” 
 
 Plenty of people apparently want that experience, despite ultra-long workdays that come from cooking breakfast, cleaning rooms, taking reservations, checking out guests, and serving dinner in a maintenance-greedy inn that is open year-round. 
 
 Sage expects more than 7,500 entries from around the globe. At $125 per entry, the total she rakes in could surge past the inn’s estimated value of $900,000. 
 
 Sage makes no apologies for seeking a large nest egg as she sails into the rest of her life. After 22 years at the Lovell Inn, and 16 years before that as manager of a busy Maryland restaurant, Sage said she’s earned the right to sit down more than once in a while. 
 
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 “My feet have been getting bigger every year,” she said with a chuckle. “I’ve always been on the go.” 
 
 Sage gave few clues to what the winning essay should look like, other than being grammatically correct and showing passion for the work. The subject, “Why I would like to own and operate a country inn,” seems simple. But stringing together the right 200 words — about one-fifth the length of this article — with the right tone, right ingredients, and right passion will be challenging. 
 
 Even the winning formula used two decades ago remains a mystery. Sage said the essay is the property of the previous owner and she is prohibited from disclosing its contents. But Sage was more than happy to describe what running the inn requires. 
 
 “Unless you raise 14 kids, you’re not going to be used to this,” Sage said, referencing the needs of seven rooms a day, seven days a week in high season. “Look, this is something you start when you’re young. It takes a lot of stamina.” 
 
 Reading 7,500 essays also will take a lot of stamina, and Sage intends to read them all by May 17. She will pass along the top 20 essays — without names or addresses — to two people from the area whose identities also will remain a mystery. 
 
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 The judges are charged with choosing a winner by May 21, and the transfer is expected to occur within 30 days after that. 
 
 The deal comes with strings. The new owner must agree to maintain the property as a country inn and restaurant for at least one year after the hand-over, keep the building painted white, and maintain the roofing and shutters in forest green, hunter green, or black. 
 
 Dina Rudick/Globe Staff Janice Sage said she will miss her “big old grande-dame” and the guests she has gotten to know over the years. 
 
 And there are sweeteners. The victor will receive $20,000 to start running the property, which includes a wraparound porch, a cavernous kitchen, and 12 acres close to Kezar Lake. 
 
 The furnishings and equipment come with the inn, but any leftover food and liquor go to Sage, a native of central New York who plans to continue to live near here. 
 
 “Why would I go anywhere else? It was too hot in Maryland,” Sage said with a laugh. “New England and upstate New York are a very comfortable place for me — somewhere north of Pennsylvania and New Jersey.” 
 
 But when she wrote her essay more than two decades ago, Sage had never been to Maine. A friend heard about the contest on the Phil Donahue television show, and Sage paid the $100 entry fee after winning a small prize in the Maryland state lottery. 
 
 Three weeks later, she was on her way to Lovell, a village in southwestern Maine within sight of Mount Washington. Sage flew to Portland and hired a driver, who soon became lost while navigating the back roads to the property. 
 
 Once in Lovell, however, all was well after Sage spied the inn. “It could have been half in the ground, and I would have taken it,” she recalled. “I was thrilled.” 
 
 Not all that followed was thrilling: $500,000 in renovations, scrambling to serve up to 120 diners a night, and two guests whom she told never to return. “One was just being annoying on purpose,” she recalled with a grimace. 
 
 Still, the work and its routine have been their own rewards. 
 
 “I call her my grande-dame, my big old grande-dame,” Sage said wistfully. “I tell her when I’m painting that if she didn’t clean up so well, I wouldn’t do this.” 
 
 And then there are the guests — except the two annoying ones, of course — whom Sage said she’ll miss. 
 
 The constant shuffle of visitors meant constantly changing conversations, and close bonds formed between Sage and parents who stayed at the inn every year while delivering children to summer camps. 
 
 “I’ll miss it for all the good reasons,” Sage said. “I’ve loved it.” 
 
 For her successor, the innkeeper offered advice that should prove to be tougher in practice than concept. 
 
 “Just breeze on through and don’t let things bother you,” Sage said. “Enjoy, just enjoy.” 
 
 Dina Rudick/Globe Staff “My feet have been getting bigger every year,” Janice Sage said with a chuckle. “I’ve always been on the go.” 
 
 Related: 
 
 • In Caribou, Maine’s biting cold, you must have ‘zero’ tolerance 
 
 • Culinary boom in Portland, Maine 
 
 • For Maine’s governor, a harsh past forges steely presence\ 
 
 • More real estate coverage 
 
 Brian MacQuarrie can be reached at macquarrie@globe .com
– Maine State Police are investigating whether an innkeeper violated state law in an essay contest with her 210-year-old country inn as the prize. Maine Department of Public Safety spokesman Steve McCausland said today an investigation was opened into whether the "Win an Inn" contest violated laws governing games of chance. The Boston Globe first reported that some contest losers felt the odds were stacked against them, contending that Center Lovell Inn owner Janice Sage marketed the contest to "dreamers" but instead awarded the prize to a couple with hospitality business experience in the Virgin Islands. "One of the many allegations against Janice Sage and the contest she sponsored is that the advertising of the contest ... was illegally deceptive and violated consumer-rights regulations, intentionally coercing thousands of people to enter a contest that they never had an actual chance of winning," says the founder of the Center Lovell Contest Fair Practices Commission, a group made up of dozens of unhappy contestants. The entry fee was $125. Sage told the Globe she received fewer than the 7,500 entries she sought, but it was still enough to fund her retirement.