Couple face backlash over controversial £3m property raffle

A couple is facing criticism after they failed to sell enough tickets for their luxury home raffle

In recent years, the property raffle trend has seen a steep rise in uptake. High-profile names have even got involved, with Eddie Jordan raffling off his London flat and Mr Motivator putting his £1.8m Caribbean estate up for grabs.

But as one couple has learned, raffles are not necessarily a surefire way to sell your home.

In March 2018, Mark and Sharon Beresford decided to raffle off their £3m Hampshire home, Avon Place – a luxurious Huf Haus with 7,000 square-feet of living space, an acre of grounds and six double bedrooms – after several offers to buy their home fell through.

However, the couple didn’t manage to sell enough £25 raffle tickets to cover the property's value, with purchases totalling just 30,000 of the 250,000 tickets available.

Ticket sales may have amounted to £750,000 but under the terms of the competition, if less than 175,000 tickets were sold, the couple were within their rights to offer a cash prize to the winner instead. Accordingly, one randomly-selected entrant was awarded £110,070.

Announcing the anonymous winner, who lives in Christchurch, Mr Beresford said: “It has been quite an experience and we have tried everything to sell enough tickets. We made sure everything was legal and above board and satisfied the Gambling Commission.

“Of course we’re disappointed that the house hasn’t been won as we want to move to Sussex to be near family. When we called the winner, they were overcome and we’re so happy for them and can’t wait to present them with the money.”

Backlash over controversial £3m property raffle Ticket sales fell short of covering the value of the Beresford's £3m property

Is the prize value enough?

Eyebrows have been raised over the cash prize sum of £110, 070, with many entrants complaining it's too low.

According to the terms and conditions of the competition, the cash prize offered should be 75% of the revenue, minus promotional costs, which means by their calculations the Beresfords spent in excess of £450,000 promoting the competition.

In a statement, Mr Beresford said: “The costs incurred were very high and began in 2016 with extensive legal advice and opinions about the interpretation of the rules covering prize draw competitions.

“To do this properly is neither cheap nor for the faint of heart. We will file our accounts in line with statutory requirements.”

Raffles v competitions

According to Gambling Commission guidelines, raffles or lotteries cannot be run for any kind of commercial or personal gain and should only be held to raise funds for charitable or not-for-profit causes.

While the term 'raffle' is commonly bandied about, property raffles like the Beresford's are actually run as competitions, which are not regulated in the same way as lotteries.

In order to differentiate between a lottery or raffle and a competition, the latter must have some element of skill involved to ensure it’s not totally down to chance. In this case, a question was asked of entrants.

You can read up on guidelines regarding prize competitions here and if you suspect someone is running an illegal lottery disguised as a competition, you can report it to the Gambling Commission.

In the meantime, if you are considering entering a property raffle or indeed any competition that requires you to part with cash to enter, read the terms and conditions fully before you hand over any money, and ensure you really know what you’re agreeing to.