After successfully selling all the tickets for their competition in mid-September on the back of a strong marketing campaign (well ahead of the original closing date of 7 December), Brian and Wendy Wilshaw are still in the unfortunate position of not having picked a prize draw winner for their competition. The draw was supposed to designate the person that would be handed the keys to a £1 million property in Devon (UK), Oldborough Retreat.

As we mentioned in a previous post on 16 October, the couple decided to postpone the prize draw due to concerns that the UK's Gambling Commission might not be able to validate their competition. Should it not be considered a prize competition (based on sufficient levels of skill and judgement), the promotion could be deemed an illegal lottery. We understand that the couple (together with their lawyer) have been working hard to put forward their arguments to the Commission.

According to their Myspace blog, the Wilshaws also sent letters to UK politicians Nick Harvey MP, Prime Minister, Peter Mandelson, and Alistair Darling to rally support for their cause. So far, this has not yielded the results they were hoping for.

In terms of timing expectations, the couple add"realistically we feel that we should be hearing something from these departments in the next few days so we would like to be in a position to make our decision on whether it's the draw or a mass refund by the week ending the 19th December (which is around the date when the winner would have been announced if we had run the competition to the 7th of December.)"

We understand that some players have suggested that the interest the couple may have earned from holding the players' funds for this delayed period could be donated to charity. According to the Win a Devon Property with Fishing website, the couple indicate that "The funds are being securely held for you all, by Paypal on a 0% interest basis. These funds are inaccessible to us until the completion of the house transfer to the winner. We would love to have been in a position to donate the interest to charity, but unfortunately that choice is out of our hands."

It seems that the next couple of weeks will be crucial in determining the outcome of this competition. One thing is for sure, it will set a precedent for others considering running their own 'Win a House' competition in the UK as a viable alternative to selling their home in the traditional way.

Visit Win a Dream Cottage, the unofficial Daily Mail Dream Cottage fansite! Get all the daily passwords, latest news and win a home competition results, subscribe for free to have all current Dream Cottage passwords sent to you by email. Plus, lots other prizes to be won, including cars, luxury holidays and gadgets, all free! Win a home

Ways to Stay in Touch

To stay on top of what's happening at Win a House, here are a few ways you can make sure you don't miss a thing. From social media to email delivery, the choice is yours!

	Our official Win a House newsletter, sent out about once a month.	Subscribe
	The latest RSS updates delivered by email, as they get published.	Subscribe
	Our simple RSS feed to add to your favourite RSS reader.	Subscribe
	Follow us on Twitter for all the latest highlights	Subscribe

Hits: 5916

Comments & Opinions

28 comments so far, what say you? Subscribe to this comment's feed

Name

Email

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe by email (members only)

Add Comment

Re: No conclusion yet for Oldborough Retreat 'Win a House' competition

Btw, we're now past the date and they still haven't refunded people. I played and am starting to lose my patience...

Steven , 27 Jan 2009

• 
• +0
• 
• 

Re: No conclusion yet for Oldborough Retreat 'Win a House' competition

I've seen rumours online that the both the Cheltenham and Oldborough competitions are having problems even identifying who actually bought tickets. Not very reassuring if truly the case, and pretty appalling given the amounts of money both allegedly spent on administering their competitions!

Gene , 07 Feb 2009

• 
• +0
• 
• 

Re: No conclusion yet for Oldborough Retreat 'Win a House' competition

The waiting has gone on too long now, I'm getting a bit fed up! The latest update on the Devon property site blames the lack of response from the GC to the snow

"Maybe the snow and ice has played a part, as I think Birmingham was quite badly affected."

Ann , 10 Feb 2009

• 
• -1
• 
• 

Re: No conclusion yet for Oldborough Retreat 'Win a House' competition

@ Ann

I think everyone is looking forward to a prompt resolution of this situation, including the Wilshaws. As we have seen, this type of discussion, which involves at least one regulatory body, can be lengthy and complicated - not to mention costly in terms of legal fees.

As long as no clear resolution has been found, it can also be difficult to provide more detailed updates to players, to avoid disclosing any sensitive information. We hope the Wilshaws finally manage to find some sort of agreement with the Gambling Commission soon.

Team Win House , 12 Feb 2009

• 
• +0
• 
• 

Re: No conclusion yet for Oldborough Retreat 'Win a House' competition

Sorry, but the draw is months overdue, the Gambling Commission have ruled the competition illegal and therefore the Wilshaws should by now have refunded everybody who paid £25 per ticket for this raffle. Where is the 46,000 x £25 being held and at what rate of interest?? I prefer my £25 to be back in my account, thank you very much and not the Wilshaws', who, let's face it, still have their property PLUS the £1,150,000 in raffle monies

Yvonne , 24 Feb 2009

• 
• +0
• 
• 

Re: No conclusion yet for Oldborough Retreat 'Win a House' competition

Yvonne, did you not read the Terms and Conditions, it has been stated numerous times that the money is being held in a zero interest account, personally, and I think this has been mentioned before as the draw is taking so long, that it would have been better to have the money in an interest account and any monies accrued should be given to charity.

Also, did anyone notice that their MySpace blog was updated recently, saying that a ‘meeting’ was being organized with all parties etc, however, the blog was then removed.

It would be nice to have more regular updates.

Clive , 24 Feb 2009

• 
• +0
• 
• 

Re: No conclusion yet for Oldborough Retreat 'Win a House' competition

did you play this lottery for a house ever expecting to see your £25 again? no you bought a dream, one that has lasted a longtime. you made a 46000/1 bet.

the family have done all they can, now as the commission is about to rule on it you want your money back!

geoff , 26 Feb 2009

• 
• +0
• 
• 

Re: No conclusion yet for Oldborough Retreat 'Win a House' competition

I didn't know the price of a coarse fishing license. I had 25 free guesses until I arrived at the correct answer.

By chance, I arrived at the correct answer and entered the competition purely by chance. This is absolutely against the Gambling Commissions rules and therefore constitutes an illegal lottery. Give up the battle and refund our money!

Paul , 27 Feb 2009

• 
• +0
• 
• 

Re: No conclusion yet for Oldborough Retreat 'Win a House' competition

They have started refunds as I have just received mine. I politely emailed them and asked for a refund and they did so very promptly. I didn't feel the need to wait any longer for the competition to go ahead. It will not, they will drag it out for years.

Claire , 04 Mar 2009

• 
• +0
• 
• 

Re: No conclusion yet for Oldborough Retreat 'Win a House' competition

@ Claire

Thanks for helping clarify that the organisers of the competition have started refunding entries at this stage. Regardless of what arises from their discussions with the Gambling Commission, this should provide some comfort to players.

This suggests that others may hopefully be receiving similar news in the not too distant future. Of course, given the large number of entries they have to process, it may still take some time to respond to all requests.

Team Win House , 04 Mar 2009

• 
• +0
• 
• 

Running out of patience

Last update on their blog on 27 February:

How long is this going to take, someone please tell me?

Just a quick update to reassure everyone that the process is still continuing, although this last furlong is taking a little longer than we anticipated! The Barrister and our Solicitor have had discussions with the Gambling Commission relating to the report the Barrister prepared for us.

The results of those discussions, are now being considered by the Gambling Commission, and we are awaiting their response.

Alice , 06 Mar 2009

• 
• +0
• 
• 

Scapegoats?

You should feel sorry for the Wilshaws, they haven't brought the country to its knees with this competition, and loads of us signed up to the competition (me included) so we thought it was a good idea, I still do and I do not appreciate some government quango telling me what constitutes an illegal lottery when they allow the TV companies to run competitions, that are so ludicously easy, the average five year old could answer them.

robin , 07 Mar 2009

• 
• +0
• 
• 

Re: Scapegoats?

@ robin
I couldn't agree with you more! this isn't fair on the Wishaws, what are they supposed to do now? Instead of rewarding people for being innovative in times of crisis, it seems that you have to be a big company to be able to jump through all the hoops, etc. Definitely seems unfair to the average person if you ask me...

Lucy , 07 Mar 2009

• 
• +0
• 
• 

Devon help

Does anyone know what the status of this competition is right now? I can't find a telephone number on their site and I'm not sure they read my emails??

Sue , 08 Mar 2009

• 
• +0
• 
• 

Enough is enough

Latest update today - stil waiting for news from the GC 8-)

Apparently they're setting up a new meeting soon:

Our lawyer has been informed that the GC legal department are trying to set up a meeting with us but apparently it is taking time to co-ordinate all the persons who are required to be present. We are hopeful that this meeting will take place this week and naturally we will update you with the outcome of that.

Rachel , 09 Mar 2009

• 
• +0
• 
• 

Some insight

According to my calculations, that means each person bought on average 1.4 tickets (nearly £36) 8-)

maths_genius , 09 Mar 2009

• 
• +0
• 
• 

This is getting silly

Looks like we're in for a longer wait... Am I right in thinking the Oldborough Retreat Devon house raffle ended six months ago?!

Latest Update on their blog (16.03.09)
Hi Everyone

Well, we have a little news to report this week. On Friday we were invited to what turned out to be a long meeting at the Gambling Commission. They described it as a fact finding mission, and although in reality they had already had all the facts in written form, this meeting gave them the opportunity to hear it all ‘ from the horses mouth’ as it were.

We had hoped that at the end of the meeting we would be given a decision, but apparently a report now has to be written up and sent to someone in higher authority. This will then hopefully be the final hurdle! We have been given no indication of how long we once again have to wait, but we still have to believe that it will lead us in the direction we need to conclude our dream.

What a crazy process!

hijohn , 17 Mar 2009

• 
• +0
• 
• 

Oldborough Retreat

Having read the new update March 09 I will wait a bit longer, but for all of us time is going on.

Ms E. Anne White , 11 Apr 2009

• 
• +0
• 
• 

Annoyed

I'm starting to get annoyed now and am contemplating asking for a refund, lack of regular updates, even if to say no news, and now a request to find a job.

Let’s face it, this competition is never going to happen.

Clive , 21 Apr 2009

• 
• +0
• 
• 

Re: Annoyed

Hi Clive I'm not surprised frankly! Just read the latest Myspace blog post and it talks more about the daughter asking for a job and about the book she wrote about the competition, than about finding a solution to this whole mess! I know it's out of their hands at this stage but I can appreciate why that could irritate you... Hang in there and if I was you if you don't get any update within the next 2-3 weeks I'd ask for the refund

Emma Paulson , 21 Apr 2009

• 
• +0
• 
• 

Re: No conclusion yet for Oldborough Retreat 'Win a House' competition

This competition does not seem to comply with the requirement of the GA 2005. If you look at the Act closely you will see that the promoter have not followed the GC recommendations. Guessing the price of a fishing Licence is a game of chance where entrants have to guess the cost, this could be seen as a Lottery, hence the delay and interception of the GC.

TR , 22 Apr 2009

• 
• +1
• 
• 

Latest update on their site (22.04.09)

"Hi Everyone,

Hope you had a Good Easter and enjoyed the lovely sunshine!

Well, we are all feeling much brighter today. The suspense is finally over and we have had a response from the Gambling Commission.

We believe we can see light at the end of the tunnel now subject to our solicitor and barrister dotting the ‘i’s and crossing the ‘t’s and reassuring us that all is ok.

Once they have done so, we will start to set in motion the arrangements to bring our competition to its conclusion!"

I wonder what the 'light at the end of the tunnel' is? Will they pick a winner or have to refund everyone?!

rich , 24 Apr 2009

• 
• +1
• 
• 

I think we're all puzzled ...

I've actually written to Wendy and Brian several times over the past few months, looking for a way to help them out, or rather help out the people who bet £25 with them.

We offered to give any of their participants a £25 discount on one of our hotel voucher and raffle tickets, which go for -- the full one, taking part in all nine remaining draws -- £135. That is, anyone who had put £25 with them could get one of our nine-chances-to-win vouchers for only £110.

And my offer wasn't just about being charitable. I figured the insecurity surrounding their project was making it more difficult for all of who are running house raffle projects, and I'd rather give up some income than have a lot of angry or disillusioned and disgruntled people out there giving up on the whole idea.

Sad to say, I haven't heard from them on the subject, though I do realise that they are probably very depressed and keeping a low profile.

But my offer is still open, if anyone chooses to take me up on it.

George Scott (see my competition here: http://win-house.co.uk/propert...spain.html)

George Scott , 27 Apr 2009

• 
• -1
• 
• 

Gambling

Anybody who enters the Wilshaw's competition is in effect gambling.

I can see why the Gambling Commission are making a stand on it. If they allow these 'Win a House' draws to get away without paying gambling tax then they may as well let all bookies and turf accountants taking bets on horse races to get away with it too.

What's the difference?

James Sorrie , 01 May 2009

• 
• +0
• 
• 

Re: Gambling

@ James,

I can see where you're coming from, however it seems fair that the definition of gambling should depend on the type/structure of each competition, regardless of the prize.

By definition, the Gambling Commission's role is not to focus on all types of contests. The issue at present is that many competition organisers are unclear exactly at what point a competition starts becoming a game or chance or lottery according to UK law.

It seems to us that if that boundary is clear, there should be no issue for people to organise 'win a house' competitions as long as they are in accordance with the Gambling Commission's own position. If they are clearly gambling, then you're absolutely right that they should abide by the Gambling Commission's requirements (including tax).

In fact, the feedback we have received from a number of competition organisers is that many would be willing to purchase a licence if it was cost-effective and relatively simple (particularly for homeowners or small companies).

However, the opposite should be true as well and competition organisers should not be required to obtain a licence if their contest is not considered gambling in the UK.

Eliminating this uncertainty can only help clarify the situation for both players and competition organisers. It is likely it would also free up resources at the Gambling Commission, as there would be fewer examples of illegal lotteries being set up as a result of this type of confusion.

Team Win House , 01 May 2009

• 
• +1
• 
• 

Definition of Gambling

As an entrant what I find disturbing is the double standards here. As someone else mentioned the TV Companies seem to be able to run competitions where the answers are so obvious no skill is involved at all. Yet for some reason the GC seems to have fixated on this relativekly innoccous competition and be determined to sabotage it.

To my mind a game of pure skill should only produce one winner, yet many of these seem to produce many winners, which then means effectively a draw has to be held to decide which one finally is declared the winner. With a real game of skill it should also be evident how well you have done immediately. So-called spot-the-ball competitions are not real games of skill, because there is no actual way of developing a spot-the-ball skill. It is just random chance similar to a lotto game and like a lotto game it tends to produce a single winner.

However for some reason the GC seems to regard spot-the-ball as non-gambling. I can't see why predicting a random event (like the position of a ball on a photo) is substantially any different from predicting the winner of the 2.30pm race at Aintree.

Like James says I think the issue here is one of jurisdiction. I'm unclear why the GC has suddenly focussed on this particular competition, which involves an individual as opposed to a company. I'm also disturbed by the fact that it has dragged this out for months. If the GC feels this is sufficiently serious to intervene, which implies it seriously breaches its guidelines, why has it taken so long to deliver a ruling. Or to put it another way, if this case is borderline, why has it bothered to interfere in it at all, given it is a one-off case that does not involve a particularly large sum.

andy , 01 May 2009

• 
• +0
• 
• 

Re: Definition of Gambling

Good point Andy. Funnily enough I too was going to raise the issue of TV gameshows in my first post but I feared it would burst through the limits of this website's bandswith for the space it was likely to require.

Anyway now you've raised it I agree with you. Many TV gameshows offering phone-ins for viewers are in my opinion outright gambling.

These phone-ins really appeared to have taken off 'big-time' around the time that 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire?' first aired on our screens in 1998. That show alone will have turned over millions if not billions of pounds in premium rate telephone revenue from the punters watching it at home.

The format for the contestant entry lines for WWTBAM has remained pretty much the same over the years. The prospective contestant makes a premium rate call and is given an automated question to which he must give an answer from four options given. Quite obviously thousands will get this part right yet only a small proporton of these entrants (currently just 50) will be randomly selected for a call back and to be to be given a tie-breaker question.
Indeed I believe many entrants will have spent thousands of pounds answering correctly but never getting further than that first stage.

I don't know whether anyone has complained about WWTBAM but I would guess from the start that the Gambling Commission just turned a blind eye to it.
After all in the early days WWTBAM was seen as the best thing on TV for years as well as being large 'export' for Britain seeing how many other countries bought the concept.

Now because WWTBAM appears to have got away with an Premium Rate gamble other less scrupulous TV gameshows have jumped onto the band wagon.

James Sorrie , 02 May 2009

• 
• +0
• 
• 

Yippee - Oldborough Retreat, Devon - draw to go ahead

Great news...Oldborough Retreat have just posted a message confirming that the draw is going to conclude as planned and will take place in the next couple of weeks.

http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=405240383&blogId=487531341

The Gambling Commision have "deemed the matter closed" leaving the Wilshaws free to conclude the competition completely within the law.

It must be a massive relief to them and obviously to all other house compo organisers - hopefully the GC will turn their attention to other things now.

We just need somebody to tell PayPal that they can lift the embargo and start talking to u all again!

Beverly , 06 May 2009

• 
• +2
• 
•