Win an £8million London Pad Competition Launches!
Whilst the 46000 entrants of the Oldborough Estate competition await the findings of the Gambling Commission another, and perhaps potentially more high profile “win a house” competition has launched. Up for grabs is £8million worth of London Flats at Win a London Pad. It’s being run in association with Great Ormond Street Hospital. The competition is aiming to raise enough money to fund the construction of a purpose built 4 bed ward in the Cardiac Daycare unit.
The cost of a ticket is slightly higher than previous win a house competitions, however there’s a nice twist. A ticket costs you £60, but for that you get entry into the competition plus an MP4 Player worth £89 (RRP). The promoters are hoping to sell 200,000 tickets with £3 from each ticket going to the charity.
Despite the issues about skill questions and the Devon Estate competition, the promoters MIA Developments Ltd have opted to follow a similar entry mechanic. There are 3 questions (which with a bit of googling, knowledge and a calculator are fairly easy) and you can’t proceed to the entry page until all answers are correct. So far 44 tickets have been sold and we’ll be monitoring developments on win a house watch (where 2 competitions have closed due to the Gambling Commission’s intervention into how the competitions are being run). We think by offering a product to buy, the MP4 Player, rather than just a ticket the promoters are simply running a “purchase to enter” competition!
Legal issues aside if you fancy an MP4 Player and the chance to become a London property magnate then the prize is quite exceptional. The property is at York House Myrdle Street in Tower Hamlets E1 and comprises a block of 11 service apartments. They have Italian Design Kitchens with stone worktops and Jacuzzi baths and en-suite to master bedrooms. Rental for the apartments should exceed £500,000!
It’s an incredible prize although many may find the £60 entry fee a little bit steep. However, if the competition fails to reach 200,000 entries the good news is you could still win a new London pad. For example if just 19,999 tickets (or MP4 players) are sold then one flat will be awarded. Full details are in the terms and conditions.
Popularity: 8% [?]
Gambling Commission Delay Devon Estate Competition Winner
On October 12th we told you that the Gambling Commission were starting to take an interest in win a house competitions. We also told you the 16th October would be the date when the winner of The Oldborough Estate. However, little did we know that The Gambling Commission would intervene in the competition and this has caused The Wilshaw’s to suspend announcing who has won their Devon Property with Fishing.
A statement about the winner announcement delay is given on the official website and they say that “The Gambling Commission have begun looking into the concept of House Competitions” and as part of that process the Commission “have asked for more information on the Competition question”. The Wilshaw’s say they had spoke to the Commission about the matter in March.
The question asked related to the cost of a fishing licence. The Wilshaw’s are claiming that as only a small proportion of the population would know this immediately then that constitutes skill and “prevented a significant number of people from participating in the competition”!
However, according to Outlaw “anyone entering the wrong answer on the website was told to try again. No money was taken until the correct answer was submitted”.
All everyone can do now is await the rulings made by the Commission!
For the people who paid £25 to enter the Devon Estate competition all they can do now is sit and wait. The Wilshaw’s have said that “the worst case scenario is that all of our entrants will be issued with a full refund if the draw does not go ahead”.
It’s a shame that the house winner has been delayed and that The Gambling Commission decided to investigate at the 11th hour. However, with so many new win a house competitions underway there’s a real need for better guidelines for promoters.
Popularity: 12% [?]
Loquax Launches Win a House Competition Watch
On October 16th the winner of the Oldborough Estate in Devon should be announced. This may spark further interest in the other win a house competitions that have popped up on the back of the Wilshaw’s success. From experience these kind of competitions always look good on paper, attract a bit of media interest, but ultimately fail! The Oldborough Estate being, so far, the only exception!
So how are the the other competitions fairing? We decided to create a special Win a House Competitions page to follow how Fellows Hall, The Devon Development, The Cheltenham House and others fair in this arena. Not only do we tell you the cost of the tickets and a bit about each competition, there’s also the total number of tickets sold and the number sold since our last check.
Loquax aren’t the only people taking an added interest in these competitions. The Gambling Commission are also starting to take a closer look at them too. In their latest report they warn that people setting up win a house style competitions run the risk of breaching The Gambling Act 2005. The concern regards just how much skill is required to enter these kind of competitions, and it’s generally felt that organisers are pushing the definition of skill right to the limit.
Analysis of the legality of The Oldborough Estate competition has been done at legal site Out-law and we wouldn’t be surprised to see legislation clarified for win a house competitions in the future.
One thing though is for certain, whoever is picked as the winner of a £1million Devon Estate on October 16th probably won’t actually give a damn about The Gambling Act.
Find out how the other win a house competitions are fairing on Win a House Competitions Watch!
Popularity: 11% [?]
Find The Monster Munch Monsters & Win £5000
I’m too young to remember Monster Munch (oi stop sniggering over there - it’s totally true) but apparently they were a monster shaped snack that were very popular in the 80s. The makers of Monster Munch are hoping for a bit of a revival, however they’ve gone and lost the monster outfits that featured in the original TV commercials. And that’s where you come in! If you know where they are or have seen them then it could win your £5000.
Full details can be found at Find Our Monsters!
If you’re sat there thinking I’ve no chance of winning £5000 then don’t worry there’s still another competition for you to take part in, although the prize is a Monster Munch Tshirt! Play the Pap the Monsters game to get a high score. There are monthly prizes until the end of January 2009.
Bringing back Monster Munch is a great idea… I only wish the people behind Find Our Monsters had decided to not bring back Timmy Mallet and Pat Sharp as well!
Popularity: 7% [?]
Tight As a Duck’s … Loquax’s New Thrifty Forum
Whilst Gordon Brown and Alastair Darling are bailing out Britain’s banking system the credit crunch is well and truly in place for many people. This means that they’re having to be extra thrifty to save money! Inspired by a recent post by Roseh asking for Thrifty Tips from other Loquax users, we decided that this subject deserved a section all of it’s own!
And so we’ve launched the Tight as a Duck’s … forum. It’s there for you to share tips and advice about being extra frugal and thrifty. We do apologise in advance for the name, but it’s fun and distinctive - and as sugarthief commented “it’s good to be different”!
If you’re feeling the squeeze and want some useful tips on saving a few pennies here and there or if you’re keen to share your thriftiness ideas with other users then Tight as a Duck’s … is the place to get posting.
Whilst we appreciate that there are other money saving type sites around, myself and Kirsty can pledge that we won’t ever be appearing on TV, writing books or writing columns in your newspapers - we’ll leave that to the experts!
Oh, nor can we bail you all out with £50billion!
Popularity: 7% [?]
The best by far is the Debenham’s sale, So many bargain to be...