Oldborough Retreat Devon competition still not concluded

Brian and Wendy Wilshaw successfully sold out all 46,000 tickets two months early in their win a house competition back in September. In the process, they raised £1.15 million in the hope of giving away their £1 million Devon property, Oldborough Retreat. Despite a very successful marketing campaign and being just about to carry out the final draw to pick a winner, the competition was stopped at the final hour following a letter from the UK's Gambling Commission.

The Oldborough Retreat competition required players to answer a relatively simple question on the website before buying a £25 ticket. The Commission expressed concerns about the legality of the competition, indicating that it may not conform to the requirements of a prize competition under the UK Gambling Act 2005. The definition of a prize competition in the UK hinges on the degree of skill and judgement to be exercised by players. Unfortunately, the answer to the Oldborough Retreat question could be found relatively easily online via any popular search engine.

According to their blog, the Wilshaws have been trying to rally support from a number of politicians to try to obtain a positive conclusion to these discussions. However, it remains difficult to foresee how long the process may take, and how successful they will be in doing so.

At the same time, a number of players have expressed concern about the funds locked in the PayPal account set up by the British couple for the competition. In particular, the issue of whether interest is being earned by the couple whilst discussions with the Commission are under way. According to their latest blog post, "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."

We will continue to update you on this important story for the house competition sector. As we highlighted previously, the success of many other similar competitions in the UK and Ireland may also depend to some extent on the outcome of the Oldborough Retreat competition.