Comments on: House Hoopla! – Devon House Raffle Update

By: Barbie pink 3 story dream townhouse

Barbie pink 3 story dream townhouse — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 17:35:06 +0000

Wow, I never heard of these House Competitions before..

Something to look into, i guess!
Barbie pink 3 story dream townhouse´s last post: Barbie Pink Dream Townhouse

By: White Knight

White Knight — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 09:56:07 +0000

Hi Pink

I agree totally with what you say about the raffle in Mallorca, I have some interesting info if I can contact you some how?

By: Serena

Serena — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 17:51:05 +0000

Actually, “Pink” — whoever you are — what you’re claiming is a calumny against the Scott’s. Their hotels are rated among the best in the Mediterranean and if you buy a ticket to the raffle and then visit either of the hotels, you get your money back. How is this at all fraudulent? And Rafa Nadal did buy a ticket for the raffle, and someone did buy one for Barack Obama; no other claim was ever made.

And the bondholder scheme referred to closed six years ago and no one lost any money on it.

Some people seem to have nothing to do but stand on the sidelines and jeer at folk who are actually trying to do interesting things. My original comment above was merely an observation that I’d prefer to have a go to win a pretty villa with gorgeous views at odds of 1 in 3,333 than a fish farm that was losing £12,000 a month (according to the owners, quoted in the Sun article) at odds of 1 in 46,000. I can say that now that a German has won the fish farm.

Anyway, I’m taking part in the raffle free because I stayed at the Townhouse hotel last autumn and got my raffle voucher money taken off my bill when I checked out. What do you say to that, “Pink”?

Serena

By: Pink

Pink — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 12:57:03 +0000

Stay away from holidayhomedraw.com the raffle “Serena” is pushing… Also goes under other names, like myveryownhomeinspain.com

If you read the newsletter it’s full of offers to become a ‘bondholder’ or a ‘shareholder’ in their hotels. Every so often a friend of Mr Scott also falls ill, or his son needs money for a new project, so he brings you a new amazing opportunity to make a guaranteed high return on your money by giving him €€€…

Even if you happened to win a property (it has been going on for years) you won’t actually own it until all others have been raffled, which could take a looong time. I’m sure they manage to get some poor players to part with their savings so beware – he even used to claim Obama and Nadal bought a ticket!

And forget about getting trying to ‘re-sell’ your hotal/raffle voucher after the raffles, it will have zero value especially after the owners have moved on!

By: House "Raffles": Here's the Latest | Miss Thrifty

House "Raffles": Here's the Latest | Miss Thrifty — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:26:30 +0000

[...] about house “raffles” continue to attract a lot of visitors to this blog, so I’ve been keeping tabs on this niche [...]

By: Serena

Serena — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 17:09:50 +0000

Actually, this competition didn’t/doesn’t hold a candle to the http://www.holidayhomedraw.com for ten properties in Spain, on Mallorca to be precise. The odds, 10 winners in 33,333 participants, are much better, and the prizes are really delightful (I stayed in the holiday complex last season). Not only that, you can get your money back, either before or after the draws just by staying at Scott’s Hotel, a wonderful 4 star townhouse. Of all the competitions, this is the one.
Good luck if you enter — I’m planning on winning the big 2 BR house.
Serena

By: philip harber

philip harber — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 15:18:02 +0000

I have purchased a ticket from oldbrough fishing retreat, having seen the house on the bbc news website i felt i could trust this raffle, i am still waiting to find out what is happening, i have heard that the raffle is postponed due to the gambling commision, and that we will get our money back if the raffle can not go ahead, but no metion of what happens to the intrest from £1.2 millon, iwould like to know.

By: Roll up for House Hoopla! | Miss Thrifty

Roll up for House Hoopla! | Miss Thrifty — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 22:35:16 +0000

[...] UPDATE: You can read my follow-up to this post here. [...]

By: Sima

Sima — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 22:34:20 +0000

The issue may not be the difficulty of the question, but whether they can convince the Gambling Commission that there scheme wasn’t designed to make it easy for people to participate – subtle, but important difference.

To explain, they need to explain that their scheme required enough skill, knowledge or judgment so that

EITHER
1. it stopped a significant proportion of the people from entering

OR
2. it stopped a significant proportion of people from winning (being right)

As all the tickets were sold only to right answers they can’t satisfy test 2.

So can they satisfy test 1?

They asked one question; it was checked and the entrant was told if they were wrong; the entrant could keep trying until they got it right over a number of months…

Not surprisingly, as they needed to sell 46,000, they didn’t really want to put people off buying tickets so they asked the question and ensured that a person buying one ticket (or 10 tickets, as you could buy multiples by using the drop-down) was confident they were not paying £25 (or £250) on the back of a wrong answer.

This may or may not prove to be a problem when they explain to the Gambling Commission why their scheme was tough enough to put people off.

By: Frugal Trenches

Frugal Trenches — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 17:15:14 +0000

Really interesting. In theory (if you had a reserve re how many tickets you had to sell) it could work and be life changing for the winner! Having said that, if people buy too many tickets or this becomes popular it’s a lot to lose each week!