A coworker pointed out a very good benefit to moving the contest deadline to January -
taxes. If, by some stroke of extremely very good luck, I should win the first 
place prize, I can delay paying my US federal and state taxes by a year. This is in
addition to any potential import duties on the hardware if the machine comes from out 
of the country. It would also give me more time to fill out any paperwork that is
required for transactions involving so much money. 
   This is not a trivial amount in my case - potentialy up to 30% of the amount of the
winnings. That extra year would give me a lot more time to save up the money. 
Aren't governments fun to deal with !

Chris Holtorf