Back in 2018 a win a house competition site called Home Competitions launched. Describing itself as “The UK’s number one property website” it initially provided details of current property prize draws although never on the same scale as Loquax. Fast forward a couple of years and Home Competitions evolved to offer entrants the chance to win a property. Their approach was different to everyone else in that they invited entrants to join a members club and pay a monthly fee for the chance to win house prizes. A £350,000 flat in Surrey was originally offered and was due to be given away in January 2021. This closing date then moved to July 2021 as insufficient people had subscribed. The site actually required 200,000 members paying £2.99 a month before a house could be won. As far as we’re aware no money was to be taken from subscribers until a critical mass of users had been reached. Unfortunately not enough subscribers materialised for Home Competitions which resulted in the closure of the website and business. As it happens though Home Competitions were ahead of the curve with their idea, but not necessarily at the right time.
Omaze Subscriptions
When Omaze launched their win a million pound property prize draws in The UK they revolutionised the win a house sector. They offered expensive luxury homes in sort after areas of the country whilst using the pay to enter prize draw mechanic as a way to raise funds for charity. Unlike other house competitions Omaze didn’t set any sales targets and guaranteed that the prize would be given away. They’ve since generated a handful of million pound house winners and regularly feature on TV. Last year the company introduced a new way for people to pay and play – subscriptions! For just £10 a month entrants receive 30 tickets into the current active prize draw. On the 1st of every month after that they also get another 30 entries into every current Omaze House Draw, provided the subscription is maintained. In the case of two draws being open in the same month then players get 30 tickets for both. Comparatively if you play £10 directly then you only receive 15 tickets to the draw. Over three months you’ll receive 60 tickets (45 for one draw, 15 for another) for £30. The subscription can be stopped or skipped at any time so if you’re clever with this we think you can make it work well.
Raffle House Subscriptions
Raffle House started life as a typical win a home prize draw site but they’ve noticed the success of Omaze and have decided to emulate the same model. At least to a point as they still need to sell sufficient tickets to create a winner for their current £2million dream home in Brighton. When this particular prize draw launched it offered entrants the chance to purchase tickets. However this month they’ve followed Omaze’s approach – again – by introducing a subscription option. Players can choose to pay £10 a month for 45 tickets or £25 a month for 150 tickets. These will be awarded for the current prize draw each month of your subscription. Comparatively you’d get 15 and 50 tickets respectively with the same purchase but not on subscription. Unlike Omaze, when you subscribe with Raffle House you can select the charity that you wish to support. You may cancel or pause the subscription from your account at any time to avoid future charges.
Should You Subscribe?
Subscriptions are worthwhile if they are value for money. If you only play a maximum of £10 per draw then a subscription won’t be worthwile. However if you play a minimum of £30 per draw then it’s worth a look. At least for Omaze because you do know that they run new draws pretty much every quarter and create property winners. When it comes to Raffle House, we think that introducing a subscription model half way through their draw isn’t the best approach. Yes you can save money if you were planning to enter but we’d like to see what is going to happen with respect to the current prize draw first. Will for example the prize draw roll over if not enough tickets have been sold by the expected closing date of June 25th? Will there be another prize draw launched before the current one closes (as happens with Omaze)? If not – and the current draw concludes – how long will it be before a new draw launches? What happens to subscriptions if there’s over a month between draws? We also would like to see a lot more transparency from Raffle House – as indeed would a few of their regulars judging by comments on social media. One thing we don’t know about either subscription service is how often you can take a break. If it’s a flexible system then you easily work it to get the most tickets for your money.