£1 million Devon property raffle...

boomshanka25

hi all.....this is my first forum post...please go gently with me.......


i saw the advert for the devon property raffle a few months back.

I proceded to get all of my office involved.....we bought 20 £25 tickets for the raffle........I have read a number of articles in the press implying that the raffle is null and void,on hold,illegal ETC.......

Could somebody please inform me of where i stand as my office chums are getting somewhat curious and i am getting my ear chewed......

If the raffle is void how do I claim our money back?

Regards.....

g

poppysarah

Have you got ticket/entry numbers for all of your purchases?
They've said at one point they've not been able to match all tickets with people - a major problem when you're running a raffle.
They might do the draw or they might decide the risk is too great - chance to take whether you claim back now or wait a bit longer.

What bothered me was they said they'd "randomly" picked an entrant to appear at the draw that would be on TV. Now why would they do that?

fernando_london

clutton wrote: »

""if the total number of tickets aren't sold the lucky winner will win all the proceeds raised during the competition less set-up and running costs"

i wonder how much the setup and running costs will be ????

anyone know the answer to this """What is the cost of an adult full season coarse fishing license for 2008/2009?'."

might be worth a punt ?

folks bet on horses, why not houses ?

If it's of any help, I came across this article that compares the cost of selling your house normally in the UK with running an online raffle or competition:
http://win-house.co.uk/blog/running-your-own-competition/4-costs-of-running-a-win-a-house-competition-vs-selling-your-property.html

It looks like if you get the number of tickets right you can organise this kind of thing and do pretty well. Sounds to me like the key (assuming it's legal) is to gain enough visitibility, like the Devon competition

any thoughts?

poppysarah

It's not legal (says the gambling commission) and once people start asking for their money back fees and legals costs will eat into that cash.

fernando_london

It looks like it's all going to boil down to legal technicalities, but I'm sure ultimately there must be a way of making it fully compliant with GC rules. Once you do though, you could face the issue that too few people will bother entering if the skill level is too high..

I wonder what the solution is for the Devon couple, it feels a bit like someone is trying to make an example of them (and create a legal precedent)? Or is that an unfair point?

poppysarah

fernando_london wrote: »

I wonder what the solution is for the Devon couple, it feels a bit like someone is trying to make an example of them (and create a legal precedent)? Or is that an unfair point?

They give back all the money. Pay their legal fees and sell the house the normal way. Reducing the price until someone coughs up.

fernando_london

poppysarah wrote: »

They give back all the money. Pay their legal fees and sell the house the normal way. Reducing the price until someone coughs up.

I guess so - I would still have hoped there's still a way of running the prize draw somehow, it seems such a shame given all those people were happy to enter...

Also given they ran this competition so publicly, once they put the house back on the market any buyer will push the price down big time, knowing they don't have a choice. They will also spend a lot of money refunding people, I'm sure paypal will charge them again for that

FraudBuster

HPC has a 72 page thread that has been viewd nearly 70,000 times.


:rotfl:

teabelly

The gambling commission told them it was legal and did comply with the rules then they changed their mind! They consulted them when they created the competition so it is down to the GC. Their first pronouncement should be binding and the GC should be paying compensation for messing them around and any legal fees they have incurred because of their idiotic back tracking.

lesleystrawson

According to their MySpace page, the draw is officially back on!!