Despite the decline in the number of property prize draws that are now running the sector continues to thrive albeit in a different way. During the Covid Pandemic the trend for win a house competitions was for them to be run by the home-owners and added to platforms such as Raffall or to set up their own website. Those days are pretty much gone now thanks to the likes of Omaze and Raffle House who offer entrants the chance to win life changing million pound properties. Joining them are Tramway Path who in their recent draw decided to giveaway cash to purchase a property anywhere in The UK as opposed to a specific locale. However the biggest change has come with the arrival of pay to enter prize draw sites into the sector. Many people know them as “raffle” sites and they include the likes of McKinney and Bounty Competitions. They’ve been successful in selling tickets to create property (or cash alternative) winners which has led to the likes of Speed Competitions, Elite Competitions and That Prize Guy joining in the fun.
The Need For Speed
As mentioned above, pay to enter prize draw sites have started to take a serious look at offering properties to their audiences. McKinney, who we’ll cover below, Bear and Bounty have all jumped on the bandwagon and successfully concluded their offerings. Joining them is another pay to enter prize draw site called Speed Competitions. They’re giving entrants the chance to win a £360,000 dream home in the Lake District plus £10,000 to help towards furnish the property. There’s a further £20,000 of instant win prizes on offer too. Instant Wins are a newish development with pay to enter prize draw sites. You purchase a ticket for the main draw but may be rewarded with an instant win prize. In this case it could be a £1000 cash prize. Interestingly one user suggested to us that instant wins push pay to enter prize draws closer to online gambling and a scratchcard format and we’re inclined to agree. Whether The UKGC see it that way is another matter. Anyway one good thing we do like about Speed Competitions is that tickets cost just £2 each. We think that’s pretty reasonable especially when you compare it the prices sometimes charged by other sites. To date they’ve sold just under 63,000 of a target of 205,000. With around 10 weeks to go before the draw is due to close it might well gather enough interest to sell sufficient tickets in order for the property to welcome a new owner.
That Prize Guys Sells Out In Days
When it comes to discovering new win a house competitions we like to think we’re pretty good. Or if we don’t see a new one then one of our regular users will. That’s what happened last week with a house prize draw being run by Northern Ireland pay to enter prize draw site That Prize Guy. They launched a giveaway to win a brand new house, two cars and £10,000 cash (or a £250,000 cash alternative) on the 20th July 2023. We were told about it on the 21st but before we’d even had a chance to get a review on to Loquax the draw had sold out. Incredibly That Prize Guy shifted 50,000 tickets at £9.99 each in the blink of an eye which is pretty amazing. It just goes to show that with the right prize, right price and right audience that these giveaways can quickly create winners and change people’s lives. It also shows that there is appetite for win a house competitions. The winner was chosen as Nuala Scott who only purchased one ticket for the draw. One thing that you can do with a number of raffle sites is view entry lists. Whilst many people purchase one or two tickets there are others who spend a lot more. This is where the pay to enter prize draw sector does have issues and perhaps regulation with respect to setting deposit limits, spending limits and perhaps even affordability (as occurs with online gambling) needs to be addressed.
Tramway Path Creates Another Winner
One of the biggest success stories to emerge from the win a house sector is Tramway Path. This platform set up by Daniel Twenefour has successfully created a property winner in all of their draws. That’s 9 draws and 9 winners! In their most recent draw they offered the chance to win a £500,000 cash prize that could be used to go towards the purchase of a property anywhere in The UK. The winner was chosen as Debbie Ajayi O. The draw was livestreamed across social media channels and conducted in the presence of an independent ajudicator. In our view the draws could be more better! Winners are chosen via Random.org and the results are listed publically. However the ticket number is shown on screen, generated by the randomiser, the search for who has that ticket is not shown. This may be down to GDPR and other privacy points but this sector has to be as transparent as it can be. We like that they do have an independent person supervising the draw present but do feel that perhaps bringing in someone such as PromoVeritas may be beneficial too. This observation isn’t limited to Tramway Path but to all companies involved in the sector. Omaze for example don’t even stream their draws. With big prizes, big money and people always willing to think the worst, these little changes can make things a lot less opaque and improve the industry.
Let’s Go Round Again
Cash alternatives – or just cash as offered by Tramway Path – have become a feature with property prize draws but it always left us with a question. What happens to the property prize if the winner decides to take the cash? McKinney Competitions have answered that for us because they’ve put up the same Mar Menor Apartment as a prize twice. The first time was in July 2022 and the second time more recently in June 2023. Obviously the first time round the winner opted for a cash prize but at the moment we don’t know what the second winner has decided to do. If in a few months time there’s a chance to win a Mar Menor Apartment on McKinney again then we’ll know for sure. The problem with holiday homes as prizes is that they may be desirable but they come with their own added issues. Community fees, local taxes and even the possibility of not being able to sell quickly are all factors. Unless the holiday apartment or villa is your dream home in a dream location then cash will always be the better choice. Selling on the prize may actually result in you having less than the actual cash alternative as well. With this in mind it’ll be interesting to see how another new entry to the sector, Win Villas, gets along. We suspect that they may struggle to convince entrants to part with 20 Euros for the chance to win a lovely looking villa in Costa Del Sol.
Looking Ahead For The Rest Of 2023
Whilst the win a house sector is a lot quieter these days it’s generating more winners thanks to the likes of Omaze and “raffle sites”. In fact of the 20 prize draws that have concluded in 2023 most have created a home winner. And they’ll be plenty more as Omaze are now launching new prize draws every six to eights weeks or so and we suspect that is down to the fact that they have numerous people paying £10 a month via subscription. The presence of Omaze does make it difficult for other platforms such as Raffle House but hopefully there’s room for everyone. We suspect Tramway Path will return with another cash to buy a house prize draw but we’re intrigued to see what happens with respect to Win My Home Nottingham. To be blunt they haven’t exactly endeared themselves to Loquax but we do hope that they’ve sold enough tickets to create a home winner. Elsewhere it does seem that this sector will be punctuated with the occasional prize draw on a “raffle site”. Those involved all seem more than capable of selling enough tickets on each round. Hopefully long gone are the days of small cash prizes being handed out due to insufficient sales on platforms like Froghopping and Raffique. One thing that will be interesting looking further ahead is if the housing market changes. If people start to struggle to sell their homes will they look again to Raffall or perhaps consider teaming up with a site like McKinney, Speed or That Prize Guy and getting them involved to sell tickets.