Oldborough Retreat house competition winner announced!

After months of discussions with the Gambling Commission, Brian and Wendy Wilshaw have finally picked a winner for their £1 million Devon estate, Oldborough Retreat. The couple sold a total of 46,000 tickets to raise £1.15 million to give away their home in a house competition. The details of the winner, 36-year old Christoph Jaeger from Hamburg, were published today.

The draw was carried out on Tuesday in Exeter and ticket OR91897 was drawn in the presence of laywers. This will mark the end of a very long ordeal for the competition organisers, who were forced to postpone their plans to move out of the five-bedroom property at the end of last year, despite all tickets selling out two months early.

It will be interesting to see whether the Gambling Commission will publish some kind of statement surrounding this controversial competition over the coming weeks, to provide other competition organisers with further guidance. Despite this house competition concluding successfully, doubts remain as to the legality of other house competitions based on similar structures. Should these issues be clarified, it is likely that new house competitions will emerge in the UK given the success of the Devon property competition.

Congratulations to the Wilshaws and to the lucky winner of this house competition, Christoph Jaeger!