Another Win a House Failure

10 Comments January 7, 2007 / Posted in Web Stuff

Win a House competitions have been popular internet stories. They usually get press coverage along the lines of the idea being “unique” and with the housing market constantly in the news they possibly arouse public interest. Sadly, in almost every case I’ve been aware of, the public interest does not equate to participation and so far, again as far as I am aware of, not one house has actually been won through these kind of raffle competitions.

Winning a £315,000 house in Rugby for the price of a £5 raffle ticket sounds good, but in one competition players have kissed their money goodbye and now have no chance of winning the house. The company involved, MJ Prizes, has collapsed and according to Rugby Today only £9000 worth of tickets were actually sold. That’s just under 3% of the number of tickets required to be sold to just break even on the house price.

In the last few months a new Win a House competition started up at Winahouse.tv. This competition offers players the chance to win a house for £1. The first competition has closed (6th January) and what will be interesting is if the house gets awarded. The terms of the competition indicate that if less than 400,000 entries have been made then an alternative prize will be awarded. Two further draws are due this month too – and it will be interesting to see if another win a house competition ends up failing or whether finally a house is won through these kind of promotions.

Related Posts...
Thank You Big Brother!
Strange 5 Minutes!
Competition Time – Win £500 From The House of Fraser!
Big Brother Duck
Staying Motivated with Affiliate Marketing
submit to affiliates4u
10 Comments... What do you think? Subscribe via RSS
  1. Rich Danby said on January 8th, 2007 at 9:10 am

    Just saw on their blog (http://www.house4apound.tv/wordpress/?p=25) that they sold 5252 tickets and will be paying out £1000.

  2. Simon Cooper said on April 25th, 2007 at 3:43 pm

    I have seen a similar competition to win a house – entry is only £1 online and are offering a free route by post. Is it a lack of interest or fear of a con that stops people entering these competitions ?

  3. lewi said on August 7th, 2008 at 5:22 am

    i heard about a site in the UK that are doing pritty well seeing as they have only been online for about a week now
    http://www.shropshirehouse.co.uk
    even if you dont buy a ticket or two like i have (actually brought 10 now i have a 1 in 3,333 of winning which is beta dan the lottery :D

  4. Scuttle said on September 1st, 2008 at 3:30 am

    http://www.winadevonpropertywithfishing.co.uk/index.php

    This one appears to be doing rather well….46000 ish tickets need to be sold for the house to be won, 32,000 ish sold so far (including 2 to me!)

    It was on 22,000ish a couple of weeks ago and closing date is Decemeber, so looking promising…offering a 65% pot if the required number of tickets doesnt sell

  5. Andrea Compton said on October 18th, 2008 at 6:52 pm

    Why not buy a ticket we all buy lottery tickets and scratch cards so why not try win a house. One property advertised sold 46,000 tickets in 11 weeks one lucky winner will win a property worth 850,000 all for the cost of £25. As long as they are proven they have been run fairly in most of the cases i have been watching accountants and solicitors are involved and the money in secure bank accounts why not try your luck as I have done and if the tickets are not all sold then someone will win cash!.

  6. Jason said on October 18th, 2008 at 8:45 pm

    The 46000 ticket competition has been delayed in announcing a winner due to an enquiry by The Gambling Commission.

    It’s totally possible that all entrants will have their cash refunded.

    These competitions are not as straightforward as those running them think.

  7. Lorraine said on May 15th, 2009 at 7:01 am

    The Wilshaws have announced their draw date for the 19th May which goes to prove house prize competitions can work if given a chance. Ticket sales are vitally important from the offset. The negative attitude of don’t buy a ticket until somebody else does is what kills the competitions. For such a tiny outlay compared to the value of the prize it is surely worth a go!! Far better odds than any lottery.

  8. Jason said on May 15th, 2009 at 8:44 am

    “which goes to prove house prize competitions can work if given a chance”

    It doesn’t prove anything – when several competitions complete then it’ll prove that these can work.

    These kind of competitions have been running for 5/6/7 years. The Wilshaws one is the only UK one to complete. Winalondonpad gave away a property without reaching it’s required quota as a “gesture” (marketing ploy).

    It’s not the negative attitude of “don’t buy a ticket” that kills the competitions – it’s the fact that most of the time people just don’t want to enter them!

    And at least say you’re running your own win a house competition in reply – surely that influences your opinion some what?

  9. John said on July 13th, 2009 at 3:29 pm

    I’m now having to take winalondonpad to the small claims court, as they have completely altered the competition and constantly postponed doing any further draws, and refused to refund me my money. Although they did respond to emails, they hardly ever addressed any of my questions or concerns. I enjoyed the Wiltshaws winadevonpropertywithfishing competition which I had a ticket for, but after this winalondonpad one I’ll not be entering any more win a house competitions.

  10. Win A House - Opinions wanted - Affiliate Marketing said on February 6th, 2008 at 2:55 pm

    [...] no win a house competition has ever succeeded… and there’s been many many attempts. Example… Another Win a House Failure | One Little Duck – Affiliate Blog My advice would be to sell the house via the usual channels Jason __________________ Loquax | [...]