Two house raffles have had complaints about them upheld.
An email, website and sponsored post on Facebook all promoted a company called Raffle House, which held both promotions.
In the email, in June this year, participants were told that the prize was a London flat worth £650,000. Text said: “With three weeks to go, our data shows that we’re only only about 6,500 entrants away from being able to guarantee the property as the prize.”
It said that the threshold for the number of tickets sold was now reduced to 120,000.
In August, the website said that 50% of the total amount received in entry fees was used for a cash prize, of £173,012.
The website also said that money retained had enabled “us to continue to operate and market our beautiful second property”.
Later that month, the paid-for post on Facebook invited participants to be in with a chance of calling a £500,000 London property ‘home’.
It added that its previous winner “had her life changed through Raffle House, will you be next?”
A complainant and the ASA itself challenged on the basis that the quoted prize of a £650,000 flat had not been awarded, and neither had a reasonable equivalent.
Another complainant challenged whether the second advert misleadingly implied that the first winner had won a house of similar value to £500,000.
Raffle House said that the cash prize of £173,012 was a reasonable equivalent, given the significantly reduced odds it had been won at.
Raffle House also said that it had not stated that the previous winner had a won a property. It said the words “life changing” was the winner’s opinion.
However, the ASA upheld the complaints. It said that the words “guarantee the property as the prize” had been emboldened, yet the property had not been awarded.
The cash prize was “clearly not a reasonable equivalent”.
Regarding the second promotion, the claim that the previous winner had “her life changed” together with images of a house and key would lead people to believe a property had been won.
Raffle House has been told it must award prizes as described, or reasonable equivalents, and must not exaggerate the value of a prize that had been previously won.
The ruling is in line with others where the ASA has clamped down on house raffles, particularly where insufficient ticket sales have meant that the houses themselves were not awarded.
According to its website, Raffle House is now offering a £500,000 house for £10, with the promotion ending on January 31.
On Companies House, the business describes itself as an estate agency.
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