How did Willy Wonka know the Golden Tickets would wind up in the hands of children?

Question

At the end of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the 1970 version with Gene Wilder)*, Wonka explains that his plan all along was to turn his factory over to a child.

Wonka: So, who can I trust to run the factory when I leave and take care of the Oompa Loompas for me? Not a grown-up. A grown-up would want to do everything his own way, not mine. That's why I decided a long time ago that I had to find a child. A very honest, loving child to whom I can tell all my most precious candy-making secrets.

Charlie: And that's why you sent out the Golden Tickets!

Wonka: That's right. So the factory's yours Charlie, you can move in immediately!

How could he have possibly known that all the Golden Tickets would wind up in the hands of children? After all, a grown-up could just have easily have bought the winning chocolate bar; there was even a hoax earlier in the film where the fifth Golden Ticket did go to a grown-up. And yet against the odds, five children got all five Golden Tickets. How could he have counted on getting this result?

_{* This might have been a plot point in the 2005 version too, but I don't have it handy.}

Answer 1

I can't find any specific references to it, but the contest had rules, one of the rules was that each winner could bring one or two family members with them to accompany them. The ticket verbiage is non-specific.

Much like many sweepstakes are only open to adults, if he wanted children, he could have set rules that only allowed children under a certain age were eligible to redeem/collect/win the prize associated with the golden ticket. Much like with contests and sweepstakes today, the full set of rules are often kept separately, in official documents for reference, so it not being on the ticket, itself, doesn't mean it wasn't a rule.

However, this is only speculation on how that could happen, for people thinking this might be a logical hole in the plot. I don't see any references or quotes to the contest rules specifying that this was a mechanism that was used.

Answer 2

• It is a children's novel. So the story was meant to be so.
• A character called Slugworth was after Wonka's latest creation. Any adult could be easily convinced to give out the secrets using the power of money. But children would know be the same as most of them would not have such cunning minds like that of an adult. In the end, we come to know that Slugworth was working for Wonka himself. So you know that it was a test set by Wonka to make sure the factory goes into the right (Child's) hands and if it was an adult that kept the golden ticket, Wonka would have enough time to plan a way to eliminate that candidate in the process of the factory tour.

If all the tickets were found and kept by adults, Wonka would probably forfiet the offer. :P

Answer 3

I just came across this and know this answer is very late. However, I don’t think any of them were random. There is no way Wilkinson/Slugworth could be there right after each ticket was found. Especially considering they are in different countries as well.

Each child was purposely chosen by Willy Wonka and the golden ticket was planted by Wilkinson to ensure each kid would find them. This also explains why each kid was rotten in a different way except Charlie.

Wonka likely knew of Charlie being he was local and like Wonka explained, he wanted a kid to win and he hoped Charlie would do the right thing and win. He said he was sorry for putting Charlie through all of it but he had to make sure. Clearly, Wonka wanted Charlie to win and take over the factory and he purposely chose every other kid to further test Charlie, along with Slugworth/Wilkinson bribing him.

Or it’s just a fairy tale story with no deeper reason given the movie revolves around a chocolate factory with exploding candy, edible meals and a flying elevator.