McDonald's is giving away a chance to join the ranks of people like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett and get free fast food for life. Here's how to enter. (MCD)

McGold CardMcDonald’s

  • McDonald’s is offering a lifetime of free fast food with the McGold Card Sweepstakes. 
  • Anyone who orders using the chain’s mobile app from August 10 to August 24 is automatically entered to with a lifetime of free McDonald’s. 
  • McDonald’s “Gold Card” is the stuff of myths, with people including Bill Gates and Warren Buffett having received the card over the years. 

McDonald’s is about to offer one lucky person a lifetime of free fast food. 

Starting Friday, any person who orders from McDonald’s using the mobile order-and-pay app is entered to win the McGold Card sweepstakes, which guarantees the winner free fast food for the rest of their lives. 

Every day you order from McDonald’s from August 10 to August 24, you are automatically entered in the sweepstakes to win free McDonald’s for life. Customers are restricted to one entry per day.

The fine print of what free McDonald’s for life really means: enough money to buy up to two meals per week for 50 years, or the equivalent of more than $52,000, according to the company’s website. 

The winner will be alerted via email on their McDonald’s app. 

Rob Lowe's Gold CardABC

McDonald’s gold card is the stuff of legends.

McDonald’s franchisees across the country sometimes offer local heroes free food with their own versions of the “Gold Card.” Actor Rob Lowe has bragged about having a McDonald’s Gold Card, thanks to a connection to McDonald’s franchisee and McMuffin creator Herb Peterson. Warren Buffett told CNBC he had a McDonald’s card that allowed him to order unlimited food for free in Omaha.

However, there are only two major confirmed stories of people in possession of cards granting them free, unlimited McDonald’s anywhere in the country, or even the world.

While on the campaign trail in 2012, Mitt Romney told a story of how his father had a “little pink card” that awarded him free McDonald’s for life. McDonald’s confirmed that founder Ray Kroc had given Romney the card.

The other lucky recipient of a lifetime of free McDonald’s — not a little pink card, but a bona fide Gold Card, according to the company — is Bill Gates. According to Warren Buffett, Gates’ card works worldwide. Of course, it is unclear how often Gates stops by McDonald’s these days, since The Gates Foundation Asset Trust liquidated its position in the fast-food company in February 2015.