Oldborough Retreat house competition draw allowed to proceed

Despite successfully selling all 46,000 tickets back in September last year, the British couple running the Oldborough Retreat competition were forced to postpone the draw to allow them to convince the Gambling Commission, the UK's gaming regulator, that their competition was indeed legal. The competition is designed to give away their £1 million 11-acre estate in Devon to one lucky person. After a seven month wait, it appears that the Wilshaws were finally given authorisation to proceed with their draw.

The news will likely be welcomed by the thousands of players that entered the competition, together with other competition organisers. It will no doubt change the life of the lucky winner when the draw is carried out in the next couple of weeks.

At the same time, questions remain about the context around which the Commission would have allowed the couple to proceed. When it was first postponed in mid-September, there were rumours that misleading advice may have been given to the Wilshaws initially by members of the Commission. This may have played an important role in determining the outcome of these discussions and suggests the competition structure may not necessarily be considered legal in the UK regardless of this positive outcome.

Other competition organisers will no doubt watch this space closely to determine how they themselves will be allowed to proceed. We will, of course, continue to keep you posted on these developments.