Comments for Oldborough Retreat win a house draw date set for 19 May! at http://win-house.co.uk , comment 1 to 8 out of 8 comments http://win-house.co.uk Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:52:19 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://win-house.co.uk/blog/competitions-in-the-news/112-oldborough-retreat-win-a-house-draw-date-set-for-19-may.html#comment-181 Fingers crossed everyone they picked a winner at 10am this morning!!! Name to be announced once all the admin is sorted out. Good luck ;) "19.05.09 Hi All! Well we didn’t get much sleep last night! Imagine every kind of emotion that you can think of and then add a few! We were so pleased that Steve our Lawyer was able to get time off work to be with us at the draw. It was an emotional experience, as we finally saw our dream become a reality. The draw took place at 10.am this morning at the offices of WBW Solicitors in Exeter. Present was the Public Notary Mr. Martin, his secretary Ms. Barsby, our Lawyer Steve Kuncewicz, a crew from BBC Spotlight news and ourselves. Also present was a female solicitor from WBW who drew the winning number." - Simon P. Tue, 19 May 2009 16:14:44 +0100 http://win-house.co.uk/blog/competitions-in-the-news/112-oldborough-retreat-win-a-house-draw-date-set-for-19-may.html#comment-180 Congratulations to the Wilshaws, at last their perseverance has been rewarded, fairly and correctly. Maybe now, those of us who have genuinely followed the same path will see an increase in interest with their competitions. Will PayPal now deem these competitions as just that, and stop applying ridiculous rules, or will they ignore a legal ruling? Good Luck to all who try !! - winariscahouse.com Mon, 18 May 2009 16:34:19 +0100 http://win-house.co.uk/blog/competitions-in-the-news/112-oldborough-retreat-win-a-house-draw-date-set-for-19-may.html#comment-177 The real problem with the Wilshaw house competition that no-one seems to mention, was that everyone entering their competition had a correct answer. It was possible to have as many free guesses as you liked, until you guessed the correct answer. This was clearly NOT a game of skill, knowledge or judgement, but an illegal lottery, despite the GC backing down for a yet unknown reason. I and my partner have been personally informed on the telephone by Mr Cliff Young of the GC, that 50% of the entrants must get the answer WRONG! however, when he was later questioned about that statement by our solicitor, he denied saying 50%, and changed it to 20%. Come on GC, how can we work to your Acts, when you have adjustable goal posts? Paul (aspotofluxury.co.uk) - Paul Roome Fri, 15 May 2009 16:52:49 +0100 http://win-house.co.uk/blog/competitions-in-the-news/112-oldborough-retreat-win-a-house-draw-date-set-for-19-may.html#comment-175 @ Jess You raise a good point. We often get asked about the idea of simply running a lottery with a license to raffle off a property. As you know, it is illegal to run a lottery for profit in many countries unless you hold a licence. Many house competitions offer to donate part of the proceeds to charity, but this does not allow them to get around this basic principle unfortunately. In order to obtain a licence in the UK, you must first be set up as a charity or local authority - or be running a lottery on behalf of one such non-profit organisation. In theory, although this would allow you to raffle off a home without any element of skill involved, the property would need to be valued less than £400,000. This is the current limit affecting any type of prize offered via a lottery (with a valid licence). - Team Win House Thu, 14 May 2009 17:44:13 +0100 http://win-house.co.uk/blog/competitions-in-the-news/112-oldborough-retreat-win-a-house-draw-date-set-for-19-may.html#comment-174 What about simply buying a lottery licence, wouldn't it be simpler for everyone or am I missing something??! - Jess Thu, 14 May 2009 17:43:17 +0100 http://win-house.co.uk/blog/competitions-in-the-news/112-oldborough-retreat-win-a-house-draw-date-set-for-19-may.html#comment-173 @ Darren, There is no doubt that the conclusion to this story has been a long time coming. Any clarification from the GC at this stage should help by providing guidance for both competition organisers and players alike. We're only sorry it has taken so long and most likely proved to be an expensive process for the Wilshaws, the GC and other competition organisers. - Team Win House Thu, 14 May 2009 17:30:11 +0100 http://win-house.co.uk/blog/competitions-in-the-news/112-oldborough-retreat-win-a-house-draw-date-set-for-19-may.html#comment-172 I think they backed down because they messed it up and initially told them it was ok... So they couldn't take them to court and had to let them go ahead! That's probably why the Wilshaws waited this long, 'cause they knew they had a good chance of taking this all the way. Good on them, they took on the big boys and won!! Onwards with more house competitions is what I say - Martin W. Thu, 14 May 2009 17:25:30 +0100 http://win-house.co.uk/blog/competitions-in-the-news/112-oldborough-retreat-win-a-house-draw-date-set-for-19-may.html#comment-171 I'm really surprised to be honest. It's such great news for the Wilshaws (and obviously for the person that wins the house!!). But it's difficult to imagine anyone making more of a mess of this than the GC in this case! What about all the people that lost all that money cancelling their comps? Let's hope they sort this out once and for all and finally give people a bit of direction. House comps are an innovative idea and everyone will gain from more clarity, that's what I say! - Darren Snowden Thu, 14 May 2009 17:23:17 +0100