2017 will go down as the year that win a house competitions made their comeback. It all kicked off with Melling Manor which resulted in Marie Seager from Warrington taking ownership of the property worth £800,000 as a result of a £2 ticket. Since then countless other properties have been added to our win a house watch including recent additions of Millionaire Mansion and Your Laddr. Both these sites offer homes valued at £2.3million and £3.2million respectively, but does the future look bright?
Closures & Cancellations
Well, based on our latest review of the win a house watch occupants, the future doesn’t look too good. Since our last update Prize Property who were offering a 2 bedroom London apartment have cancelled their competition. They cite issues with The Gambling Commission and press coverage with respect to their skill question as the reasons for the cancellation. All participants should get a full refund. Win A Leicester House has also closed with the owner citing issues with internet trolls as a reason for the closure. This competition ran on a now deleted Facebook page and we’re not at all surprised it’s ended as it lacked the necessary terms and conditions. Ticket purchasers should receive a Paypal refund, although it’s slightly concerning that the owner has shut down lines of communication.
Cash Prize Winner
There’s slightly better news for the Win A Home In County Durham competition. This closed on the 10th December but with less than 10,000 ticket sales. This meant that the property wasn’t offered as the prize, but a cash amount of £7000 was won by Ryan Henderson. According to the terms this represents 73% of the ticket sales, so based on that we can determine that under 2000 tickets were actually sold. Another competition that’s just closed is the Win A Knightsbridge Flat one and it’ll be interesting to see how this one pans out. We don’t expect the house to be given away and anticipate that a cash prize winner will be announced. According to the website the winner should be revealed on the 15th December.
Win A £3.2million Apartment
The results of these last two promotions should act as warning lights to the newest additions to our win a house watch, especially Your Laddr who also have a Knightsbridge Flat as a prize. Your Laddr aims to become a portal for house competitions – and joins Homes2Win – in this particular pursuit. Whilst we wish them all the best in this endeavour, there are big question marks over where homes can really be sold regularly using a competition mechanic. Your Laddr’s first prize is a £3.2m apartment in Knightsbridge plus a new car. Tickets cost just £10 and you need to spot the ball to take part. In many respects the site works like Best Of The Best but features homes instead of cars. In the event that not enough tickets are sold then a cash prize is awarded. The site doesn’t indicate how many tickets need to be sold.
Win A £2.3million Devon Mansion
Joining Your Laddr in giving away a home and a car is Millionaire Mansion. This property is located in Devon and is worth £2.3million. It comes with swimming pool, gym, self-contained apartment, the contents and furniture, a fully stocked wine cellar and bar, staff for a year, £50,000 and even a Rolls Royce! 500,000 entry forms will need to be received by November 2018 for the property to be given away, but the competition will end should 1million entry forms be received. The entry fee for this one is £10.50 and you need to answer a question to take part.
Win A House Competitions In 2018
2017 has been a busy year for these kind of competitions, but what does the future hold? Will we see more of them in 2018 or will we see them slowly fade away again. Based on what we’re seeing we’re going to say the latter and here’s why. To date, The UK Gambling Commission haven’t intervened that much with the current crop of win a house competitions compared to the last purple patch back in 2008/09. For the most part, the sites that are running in 2017 are much more sophisicated and well versed in the required legislation. Another big difference between then and now is that the prizes are much more desirable and ticket prices a lot more reasonable.
Not Enough Tickets Sold
That’s all well and good but there is a huge similarity between the 2008 competitions and the 2017 competitions – there just aren’t enough people willing to purchase tickets! For every Melling Manor or Oldborough Estates there are more Prize Property, Fancy Winning My House, Win A Leicester House and Win The Cheltenham House competitions. The arrival of portal sites like Homes2Win and Your Laddr to tap into the win a house phenomena is exciting but unless they actually sell tickets and shift properties then their hopeful ventures will quickly become non-starters. To sell tickets they – and indeed all those trying to giveaway their properties via a competition – need to ramp up their marketing and PR. Just putting up a website and hoping initial coverage in The Daily Mail and The Sun is the key to riches isn’t going to work. Whatever happens, 2018 promises to be an interesting time for all those who are operating in the win a house market.