Following the success of the first win a house competition on the Raffall platform it wasn’t a surprise to see another one follow. What was a surprise was that five other house competitions would subsequently launch this week. Properties in Newcastle, Manchester, West Yorkshire, Wakefield and Derbyshire are now available to be won. One of these properties could be yours for just £1 or £2. Or perhaps you’d like to save your pennies and try for a more luxurious property that can be won in the Dream Home Prize Draw?
Covid-19 Has Effected House Sales
The Raffall properties are a mixed bag of homes. They range from a two bedroomed semi (plus Range Rover Evoque) in Newcastle through to a Victorian Gentleman’s Residence somewhere in West Yorkshire. These competitions will be a real test of the win a home mechanic as it’s usually associated with the luxury top end properties that offer lifestyle change. Like the Wakefield home that was won in July 2020 the Raffall prizes are everyday homes and in the past of these kind of competitions they haven’t always been attractive to punters. However the market could be right for house raffles. Look through the various media articles regarding the properties currently up to be won and many have a similar story. Covid has effected house sales and the owners are struggling to move. In some articles sales have been lined up but fell through at the last minute. Of course this could just be a nice line to get some media coverage! And the media do like to lap up a good house raffle story.
Location! Location! Location!
Whilst we’re excited to see how these competitions progress we do think there are issues. In many of the competitions the promoter (i.e. home owner) doesn’t want to tell you the location of their home. We understand this for safety reasons but people do need to know where the property actually is! A property might look decent in photos but it might also hide the chicken farm 100m down the road or the blooming big pylon overlooking the garden. House raffles need to operate a little bit like a true house sale and that should mean offering entrants similar levels of information. One issue has been resolved on some of the competitions. With the first Raffall competition there wasn’t any details with respect to the actual sales process such as solicitor fees and stamp duty. Some of the newer raffles now cover this! We would like to see this become much more formalised along the lines of the standalone competitions. We guess that might come in time depending on the success of the current batch of house contests.
Gambling Concerns
If they are successful then expect to see quite a few more home competitions during 2020. We’d anticipate that people will also be looking at emulating the Raffall platform and thinking how to improve it, especially for win a house competitions. The Raffall platform takes a decent percentage from ticket sales whether the house sells or not. There is a danger though! Too many house competitions swamps the market and this dilutes the ones that are currently running. The media, whilst loving the stories, may not wish to cover every competition. Another issue to consider is that if the volume dramatically increases then this surely means that The UKGC will have to look into whether raffles are actually a close relation to gambling. On a gambling site a punter has various tools to limit deposits, spend and time spent playing. They can also be flagged by the brand if they wager too much. As far as we know there are no such limits on raffle sites, including those that offer cars and watches as prizes. Therefore Punter X could quickly spend £100 on several raffles without the same kind of protection offered by a gambling brand. We suspect this won’t become an issue until a daily newspaper – bored of writing about house raffles – decides to focus on “I lost our life savings trying to win a house” stories.
Guaranteed Winner
Before that happens there will at least be one more house winner as Raffle House 2 is due to conclude on the 31st July. They are are guaranteeing that the property will be won as will a Land Rover Discovery Sport or £30,000 cash alternative too. You still have time to get involved with this giveaway. And by entering now if you spend £30 or more, Raffle House will double your paid entries! That’s a saving of 70% and 10 tickets for £30! And that’s not all the news from Raffle House. They are getting right back on the bandwagon with a brand new contest starting on 1st August. We, like you, will have to wait for the property details but hopefully it’s as glam as the Painter’s Keep in the Dream Home Prize Draw. This one has even been endorsed by Love Island’s Amy Hart. For just £2 a ticket you could become the new owner of a luxury property in West Sussex. We wonder how successful this – and indeed all the other new contests – will be. Keep an eye on Loquax for the details.