Win My Dream home is currently raffling off its second property prize, having completed its first-round competition in December 2019.
However, having failed to sell enough tickets the first time around, Win My Dream home instead gifted a cash prize of £65,706.00 to the winner, while raising £10,951.00 for Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital (GOSH).
The second round requires 140,000 paid entries by 30 June in order to gift the property, without which the winner will receive 60% of all ticket sales, currently at £123,000.00, with nearly £30,000 raised for GOSH.
Research by Winmydreamhome.com found that 72% of respondents have heard of house raffles, but just 23% have actually entered one.
Approximately a third (31%) said that house raffles should not be allowed to gift a cash prize rather than a house, while the rest had no issue with them doing so.
The business suggested that trust in the process has deteriorated because some house raffles have, in the past, taken large sums of money in profit, and in some cases, failed to award any prize at all.
Three-quarters of people felt that house raffles are either very untrustworthy (39%) or somewhat untrustworthy (37%), with just 4% of people believing them to be very trustworthy.
The majority (94%) of those surveyed also thought there should be more transparency on how ticket income is spent.
Marc Gershon of Win My Dream Home, said: “House raffles have become incredibly popular in recent years as they present both a great opportunity for the consumer to win big, while also enabling the raffle itself to achieve a better price than they may have otherwise on the open market.
“However, as with most things in life, a number of rogue traders have soured public opinion by operating selfishly, and often illegally, to maximise profits at the expense of the prize pot awarded.
“This has led to an uphill struggle for most house raffles to sell enough tickets in order to gift the property and it’s clear that transparency and trust remains an issue today.
“The most common problem is that many house raffles will stipulate that ticket sales will go towards covering marketing costs, for example, but they don’t reveal the true sum of these costs.
“Upon failing to award the house, they are then legally covered to pilfer as much of the cash pot as they see fit, and then some, with the actual winner receiving whatever pittance is left.
“In many cases, an honest raffle provider will always award a substantial sum of money in place of the property, with a good cause such as Great Ormond Street also benefiting from a sizable donation.
“At winmydreamhome.com we believe in full transparency for all our entrants.
“We display the current prize fund, charity donations, ticket sales progress as well as your odds of winning at the time of purchase.
“Very few if any other draws have this level of transparency.
“Unfortunately for us, this raffle certainly looks to be our last as it’s clear that there simply isn’t the appetite required by the general public.”
