Three complaints about a house raffle have been upheld by the advertising watchdog.

The website www.winyourdreamhome.co.uk advertised a seven-bedroom home with a swimming pool and an acre of land as the prize.

Tickets cost £5 each.

Two complainants who had entered the competition complained to the Advertising Standards Authority because the advertised prize of a house valued at £625,000 was witheld and the alternative cash prizes were not of equivalent value.

A second complaint was that the advert did not make it sufficient clear that there would be a substitute cash prize if not enough tickets were sold; and thirdly, the draw for the cash prizes was not administered fairly.

Win Your Dream Home UK Ltd, which has an address in London, did not respond to the ASA.

The ASA said that the property had been promoted in such a way that consumers were likely to expect that it would be the prize regardless of the number of tickets sold.

Had consumers known that an alternative cash prize would be awarded at the discretion of the promoter, it could have influenced their decision whether to take part.

The home page did not explicitly and prominently state that a cash prize applied if not enough tickets were sold; the information was only stated in the terms and conditions.

These stated that there would be a first prize of the house, with a second prize of £10,000 and a third prize of £1,000 for ten entrants.

However, the ASA said that the cash prizes had not been awarded as described.

The ASA has told Win Your Dream Home to ensure that in any future promotions it awards prizes as described.

House raffles appear to have been growing in popularity but this is not the first time that the ASA has ruled against a promotion. In April it upheld a complaint against Win Abode.

In August last year, the Gambling Commission warned that some organisers were breaking the law by running illegal lotteries.

However, last month Raffle House successfully crowdfunded, raising well over its £200,000 target on Seedrs.

Yesterday, a Google search revealed that the winyourdreamhome.co.uk domain name is for sale.