Evening Herald & My Home.ie Competition

CTU_Agent

So who won in the end??? Anyone here?

CTU_Agent

the winner was announced today in the herald with a total of close to 2 billion.

Chalk

CTU_Agent wrote:

the winner was announced today in the herald with a total of close to 2 billion.

rofl,

so how much did you all spend on heralds?
a few grand? , more?

hahaahah

CTU_Agent

nothing actually....I sold my tokens for about 400 euro.... after spending only about 100 euro....

Chalk

sorry,
was just asking the thread in general,

one lad was buying 100s of eursos worth every week.
i knew it was gonna be some ridiculous amount in the end,
2 billion tokens works out at 40000eu IF you bough them all in the last week.

thats a lot of heralds.
would love to see circulation figures for the final week.

CaraNiTuathaill

I really cant believe that figure.... Who has 40K just hanging around to spend on Evening Heralds.
I have now decided that its all a fix.
You would have dificulty getting to the shops to even find 40K worth of evening heralds.
I want to know was it a syndicate and how many were in it?
I still dont believe its a legitimite winner!.............40,0000 Euros, and you'd have to have insider info to know that they were going to print 50,000 tokens in the last week so if they were buying all along its more like 80,000 Euros????????????????
thats just taking the piss.

NOT Feeling hard done by at all - no I'm not a sore looser honest (BOO HOO Sniffle, Sniffle)

Roz

Hi All,

For those interested, there is an article about the winner of the Evening Herald competition in today's Sunday Times which I thought you might be interested in. Paddy Kehoe (could this be you PaddyPoker?), the winner of the Evening Herald Bid for a Hollioake Home competition, is a bar owner who was part of the Lottery syndicate who in 1992 bought up most of the numbers in the lottery covering 1.8m of the 1.95m combinations and they won a share (there were 2 other winners) exceeding the amount they spent, and a line at the time cost 50p. Subsequently the lottery numbers were increased from 36 to 42.

Paddy and friends apparently bought up approximately 50,000 newspapers in the last few days of the Evening Herald competition particularly on the Friday when there was no horse racing and hence lots of papers were available in shops (spending at least €50,000) and it is believed that there were five in the syndicate according to the Sunday Times. The winning bid printed in the Evening Herald on Friday, was €1,949,662,000.

I think people should be warned against doing this competition in future and that they should not bother wasting their time and energy doing it, and put their hard earned money into some sort of savings vehicle for a deposit instead. It is taking advantage of the desperation that people are feeling, myself included, that they will never be able to afford to purchase their own home at current ever-spiralling house prices, and will be in the tenant trap forever paying off someone else's mortgage!

The competition was advertised, as the Sunday Times article says, as follows: "So either one of these outstanding homes could be yours for absolutely nothing, nada, zilch." It could be argued that this was misleading advertising because unless the Evening Herald intended to give away papers with tokens for free, the above homes were going to cost at least the price of the papers spent by the competition entrant who won it. Unless you have unlimited access to funds, the ordinary Joe Soap on the street does not stand a chance in a so-called competition like this. Even a lottery at least has the element of chance going for it! Apart from choosing a name for the house in the case of two or more highest bids of equal size, there did not appear to be any element of skill which is a normal requirement for running a "competition", other than the skill of being able to spend loads on newspapers and the ability to use a scissors, oh and count tokens!

And granted, had I and my friends won, I probably wouldn't be complaining like this, but I would still think this type of "competition" was patently unfair, shame on you Evening Herald! Any legal eagles out there familiar with the Lotteries and Gaming Acts and with advertising law, who may have an educated opinion on this?

Roz.

sceptre

On a slightly related (not really I suppose but here's a good place to ask) note, does anyone out there who bought hundreds of Heralds have an entry form for the women's mini-marathon that they'd be willing to put in the post to me? GF wants to enter again but forgot about it until after online entry had closed and they stopped printing them in the Herald.

Roz

I do not know if that would work as I see on their website that entry by post is also closed due to the fact that they have reached their safety limits. I do not have an entry form for the competition by the way, sorry, and I only bought the Herald for the above mentioned competition plus to find out the results (and yes I recycled every single one in Coolmine and Collin's Avenue Recycle Centres). I have entered the Mini Marathon - got the entry form out of a paper someone else bought for a change.

I wonder if giving them a ring might help - the number of the Women's Mini Marathon Office is 01 2930984. Hope you get to enter because it is an enjoyable day/walk/jog/run with a good atmosphere.

Carlitos Way

The competition was a complete fix. There is no way in the world that a group of people could possibly get there hands on 50000 papers (according to the Sunday Times) in the space of a week. Not only because of the high demand for papers that week, due to the competition but also because of the free Cheltenham bets that were offered. Also most shops stick to the 15 papers per person rule, as they are thinking of their regulars who come around ever day. This guy on the other hand would be seen as a blow-in by the shopkeeper that was buying a lot but none the less would not be around next Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday etc etc of next week. You get the point. There had to be some sort of inside dealing between Paddy Kehoe and someone in the Evening Herald. I can’t imagine he could have pulled it off without it nor would he even attempt this stunt if he didn’t have a helping hand. A helping hand that was against the rules of the competition. I would assume that he had papers delivered to his door by the pallet load. That is the only way you could have got your hands on so many papers. They amount of money is completely irrelevant. Most people would find a way (any way) to get their hands on 40k if it meant they were going to handed over a property that was seven times that in value. It makes mathematical sense. So the issue isn’t how much he spent but rather how the hell did he get his hands on so many papers in a fair and just way. Well there isn’t one, is there! He could not have got his hands on so many papers in that particular week unless he had them delivered in huge quantities. For that completely unfair act to happen, he had to have someone WORKING FOR HIM ON THE INSIDES IN THE EVENING HERALD. And if he didn’t (which is highly unlikely) its still completely unfair to have access to so many.

PS- what is the real reason for the delay with the release of the winners name and why was it so low key for such a huge competition!!! Did the Evening Herald/MyHome know that there was going to be trouble when the result was finally released and therefore were staling for time to reassess their legal standing, when the winner had clearly cheated?

PPS- for those that are disheartened by the competition and feel that there’s no way there going to win the property, well you’re probably right, BUT you can justifiably look for a refund of the cash that you put into it. If you are pursuing this let people know, put it up here. There’s always strength in numbers.

Carlitos Way

Needless to say I won’t be buying a pint in the Head Line Bar in Dublin.

Lump

ANyone who's stupid enough to spend that much money on news papers deserves to feel like **** / not win / be a darwin awards entrant.

John

Roz

Moderator Lump, most of the ordinary people who entered this particular insidious competition were desperate more than stupid, and the blurb promoting this competition played/preyed on this.

Just a couple of interesting website addresses:

Gaming and Lotteries Act 1956 - http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/ZZA2Y1956.html

and

The Advertising Standards Authority For Ireland - http://www.asai.ie/ .

Food for thought.

Roz.

Lump

Why would I read them. Anyone willing to spend €50,000 on newspapers, in the hope of winning a house is stupid.... nothing else, just stupid

The competition was a complete fix. There is no way in the world that a group of people could possibly get there hands on 50000 papers (according to the Sunday Times) in the space of a week.

Even if you spend €5,000, €500 or €50 on the Herald you are still stupid. I don't care about Gaming and lottery acts or the advertising standards authority.... stupid.

John

Roz

Sorry, Moderator Lump John, the second part of the above post was aimed at other people reading this post who may have an interest in this topic.

Lump

Right.

John

MorningStar

Carlitos Way wrote:

PPS- for those that are disheartened by the competition and feel that there’s no way there going to win the property, well you’re probably right, BUT you can justifiably look for a refund of the cash that you put into it. If you are pursuing this let people know, put it up here. There’s always strength in numbers.

I doubt anybody here can honestly look for a refund. They were all talking about the different cheats thay could try. The pooling of tokens, joining sydicates etc...

Read this thread and there were people warning about the problems but others just kepting going on about not being negative. I get the desperation of some people but desperation is no excuse for the level of sure stupidity of risking alot of money on this. The guy who won is obviously a gambler and business man. I would safely bet that he didn't put his house/future at risk. Anybody to think these type of people would not get involved in this were very niave at best and extremely stupid at worst.

Tazzle

Lump's name is John, guys.

Roz

I get what you are saying MorningStar and John about people's foibles, but I would not exonerate and let the Evening Herald off the hook on this one. Apart from attempting to get refunds, Carlitos Way, and there is no harm in trying, there are other remedies and sanctions that can be pursued. Complaints about misleading advertising and promotion about the competition can be made to the Advertising Standards Authority For Ireland, and there are sanctions if such complaints are upheld, even if it is only a public slap on the wrist. Such bad publicity and bad feeling and other possible fallouts may hurt to some extent the benefits and financial gains earned by the Evening Herald from running from such a promotion/competition again in future.

In addition, the Gaming and Lotteries Act is primarily there to protect people from their inbuilt weaknesses and gambling addictions, and the remedy I would like to see is that such competitions are not held in future by the Evening Herald or other newspapers.

emily

While i don't think anyone has a hope in hell of getting a refund (i'm sure the evening herald/ my home have covered themselves)- i still cannot fathom how paddy managed to get 50,000 evening heralds or indeed how he had the confidence to hold off until so late in the competition. While it was pretty obvious the vouchers would increase towards the end- i can't undersatnd how he was in a position to secure so many copies. My heart goes out to anyone who did lose a lot of money- as above i reckon entering the competition reflected desperation and not stupidity! I know this is really sour grapes and possibly no consolation what's so ever. But i lived in a new holliokes house in lucan. Between a swamp in the backgarden, doors that wouldn't close properly, and plaster that fell off the walls (in the first three months) i can only say "nightmare". not the most pleasant company to deal with. (Bitter me- no no not at all!)

Roz

Hi Emily. I hear what you are saying about Hollioake homes. A friend of mine lives in the Belfry in one of the Hollioake homes in a second floor duplex apartment, and the water heater timer in the hot press is one of those Grasslin QE7 Residential Water Heater timers which are currently being recalled (this warning was advertised in the Evening Herald and Irish Independent last Friday) because of a possible defect which can cause the timer to overheat possibly resulting in fire.

People with these timers are being advised to stop using them and to turn the main switch to off. They are advised not to operate the main switch or boost function while sleeping or out of the house. If they need hot water, they are being advised to turn the main switch to on and push the boost button and to switch the main switch to off as soon as the water is heated.

Anybody who has one of these timers is being advised to ring a freephone number 1800 946 360 to register for a replacement. People should check out what make and model of water heater timers they have and take the requisite action if necessary.

sleepwalker

Why would I read them. Anyone willing to spend €50,000 on newspapers, in the hope of winning a house is stupid.... nothing else, just stupid

they spent 50 grand because they knew they would get all their money back plus some more.

that syndicate are not a group of idiots they only bet on sure things and they knew this would be one of them.

L5

he said in the paper he was as confident of winning it as if he was taking a penalty kick, that he was almost certain he'd win it.
Sounds pretty dodgy to me.

Wertz

Well anyone that can organise a combined effort to buy 800,000 lotto tickets probably had very little problem getting their hands on 50,000 tabloids...

I feel sorry for normal people that entered this thinking they had any chance of winning....there's always some smart c**t out there who has to turn it into a money making scheme. But did he break any rules? The fault lies with the people running the competiton IMO.

RuggieBear

Wertz wrote:

Well anyone that can organise a combined effort to buy 800,000 lotto tickets probably had very little problem getting their hands on 50,000 tabloids...
.

Bingo....nail on the head there. These guys would have figured out the logistics

impr0v

Couldn't it simply be the case that he pre-ordered a run of 50,000 copies on that day, knowing from the last competition that the highest value tokens are on the last day? The paper are hardly going to turn down an order of that magnitude out of some sort of moral obligation to all the deperate dreamers that already have a back garden full of unread newsprint. You all really should have seen it coming.

And no, he probably wasn't sure of winning, but he was sure enough to warrant the gamble and would have been able to take the loss of the stake he was putting down.

emily

Surely to have acquired so many papers on the final days he must have ahd to break the rules. Ordering a run of 50,000 from the evening herald cannot be a legitimate strategy. Especially as the number of copies joe soap could buy from independent newspapers was limited! In fact buying from you local newsagent was limited in a lot of cases. Also as Carlito mentioned the whole announcement was surprisingly low key. I read the paper (in the shop- never buying the rag again!!) today and there was no mention. has anyone seen anything other than yesterday's times? I suggest we all make a formal complaint and if anyone is up for it "talk to Joe"?

Tar.Aldarion

Tazzle wrote:

Lump's name is John, guys.

yes john marigold lump
what of it.

Sleepy

Can't say I'm surprised to be honest. I'd be interested in hearing the logistics of how they got the 50,000 copies 'without' breaking the rules of the competition. Wondering if a lot of it was from the guys who sell them at the traffic lights? Most of them look like the sort of guys that'd be desperate enough to help out someone like that for a couple of quid.

Wertz

emily wrote:

Surely to have acquired so many papers on the final days he must have ahd to break the rules. Ordering a run of 50,000 from the evening herald cannot be a legitimate strategy. Especially as the number of copies joe soap could buy from independent newspapers was limited! In fact buying from you local newsagent was limited in a lot of cases. Also as Carlito mentioned the whole announcement was surprisingly low key. I read the paper (in the shop- never buying the rag again!!) today and there was no mention. has anyone seen anything other than yesterday's times? I suggest we all make a formal complaint and if anyone is up for it "talk to Joe"?

Excuse my ignorance on the mechanics of the competition, but if I wanted to do this I'd get 40 friends/employees to drive to 40 provinical towns/cities, each buying 50 copies of the paper for 25 days. Not exactly an Olympic opening ceremony fireworks display in terms of organisation...
50 grand plus the same again in wages/petrol or whatever other overheads, for what the guy reckons was moreorless a sure thing.
Even if he lost he's still rolling in it anyways from his lottery hits and other ventures.

The conspiracy theorist in me is dieing to say that there's staff of the paper in cahoots with the guy or his affiliates somewhere down the line, but that would be silly...I

Lump

What's the facination with my name?

John

Chalk

Wertz wrote:

Excuse my ignorance on the mechanics of the competition, but if I wanted to do this I'd get 40 friends/employees to drive to 40 provinical towns/cities, each buying 50 copies of the paper for 25 days. Not exactly an Olympic opening ceremony fireworks display in terms of organisation...
50 grand plus the same again in wages/petrol or whatever other overheads, for what the guy reckons was moreorless a sure thing.
Even if he lost he's still rolling in it anyways from his lottery hits and other ventures.

The conspiracy theorist in me is dieing to say that there's staff of the paper in cahoots with the guy or his affiliates somewhere down the line, but that would be silly...I

the problem with that is the ever increasing value of the tokens,
from 100euro or so for the first few weeks to 50000eu in the last week.

i doubt there was a conspiracy,
just a well thought out plan to buy lots of heralds at the last minute.
those auctions in the herald are always done the same way,
the high value at the end encourages every one caught up to buy more,
most of them dont consider that someone has outsmarted them.
and since theyve probably invested a few thousand euros at this stage theyll gladly throw a few more at it.

if you can buy that many lotto tickets in a few days,
you can surely buy a few heralds.

Carlitos Way

Some of you have focused on the fact that if the same guy can organise 800,000 lotto tickets then its safe to say he could organise 50,000 Evening Heralds. Does anybody actually remember back to that particular lotto stunt? He had an ‘insider’ of sorts back then as he must have had this time around also. He had pre-arranged with a shop to run off the boxes and boxes of lotto tickets that he had prepared with all the different combinations. The shop was his ‘insider’ then; who was it this time. I don’t care about his luck with the lotto stunt that he pulled, good luck to him. There’s no limit that one person can buy of lotto tickets as far as I’m aware. But there was in this competition. I can vouch for the fact that the idea that this guy was driving around picking up 15 Evening Heralds per shop and at the end of all his hard work, had 50,000, is total horse****. Physically and logistically this would be impossible. Traffic alone makes it unthinkable. And lets not forget, almost all shops have two Evening Herald drops, afternoon (2pm) and late afternoon (4pm). The papers sell out at around 8pm. That’s a daily window off opportunity of about 6 hours. Not forgetting that were talking about sometimes as little as only three papers in a shop at that time of night, if even. Further, I personally didn’t notice all that much of a drain on the papers ‘public’ circulation (as oppose to 'private’, for those at the back). I was actually surprised how many Evening Heralds were actually available for that last week!!! Some of you have mentioned the fact that those that got involved in this competition are just stupid. Well most gambling sort of is, in a way. But one SAFE bet is that not one of that guy’s papers ever saw the inside of a newsagency or petrol station.

Carlitos Way

Wertz wrote:

Excuse my ignorance on the mechanics of the competition, but if I wanted to do this I'd get 40 friends/employees to drive to 40 provinical towns/cities, each buying 50 copies of the paper for 25 days. Not exactly an Olympic opening ceremony fireworks display in terms of organisation...
50 grand plus the same again in wages/petrol or whatever other overheads, for what the guy reckons was moreorless a sure thing.
Even if he lost he's still rolling in it anyways from his lottery hits and other ventures.

The conspiracy theorist in me is dieing to say that there's staff of the paper in cahoots with the guy or his affiliates somewhere down the line, but that would be silly...I

Wertz you sound like a really interesting guy. For starters you have no less than 40 mates. Plus they’re all unemployed and available to help you. They all have a car. They love you so much that they are willing to drive to County Meath or where ever, and back to buy you a couple of papers. And to top it all off, they like you so much, you don’t have to worry about them stealing your idea!!!!

PS- Wertz, I’m not being an asshole but that’s hardly realistic now is it. It’s a lot easier to get in contact with someone who works for the Evening Herald. Throw a couple of grand his way (as he can’t enter the competition anyway) and you get an apartment. Publicans have a lot of contacts in a lot of places. Contacts would be essential for this to be pulled off, not a drive to Meath!!

Roz

Here is a current link to an online version of the article in the Sunday Times last Sunday - http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,2765-1602790,00.html for those who want to read it. My gripe is not with the winner/winners and his/their tactics - had there been some syndicate out there willing to gamble €60,000, they would have been beaten, and there were probably syndicates out there who spent €20,000 to €30,000 thinking they were on to a sure thing. My gripe is with the Evening Herald for effectively running a gambling racket that Las Vegas would be proud of.

The aftermath of the National Lottery fiasco in 1992 was that the rules of the Lottery were changed so that a similar coup could not be pulled off again. It was a statistical certainty at the time (the only caveat being the existance of another jackpot winner/winners) that if you covered all combinations, you would win all prizes between match three and the jackpot, which would equal more than you spent.

Tazzle

And the poor children in Africa...

Carlitos Way

Tazzle wrote:

And the poor children in Africa...

How profound!

In the name of love, one man, in the name of love... uh oh uh oh, uh oh uh oh...

MorningStar

emily wrote:

as above i reckon entering the competition reflected desperation and not stupidity! /QUOTE]

Desperate people do stupid things, desperation does not mean you are exempt from stupidity. After a brief investigation it would have been apparent that a serious bank roll would be needed or some other form of "cheating".
What is the desperation for? To own a house? You can always rent there is no need to own a house it's desire not need. Try paying for a house yourself if you can't afford it get over it you have to rent!

MorningStar

Carlitos Way wrote:

The shop was his ‘insider’ then; who was it this time. I don’t care about his luck with the lotto stunt that he pulled, good luck to him.

Actually that time he had a lot more than one "insider" as you put it. No corner shop was going to enforce a 15 paper rule. I 'm not sure of the rules for the competition but there was no legal way that the 15 paper rule could be enforced. The best the paper could have threatened was not to supply the shops with papers which they wouldn't do if the store normally sold a lot or if it would have covered a whole region.
There is also the company that deals with returned papers for shops. If I was doing this I would have gone to them first. THey cut of the headers for the shops and credit the shops.

MorningStar

The guy who won was just on the radio. He only spent €25k and an additional €10k to somebody if he won. He got the other person on-line because he heard there were syndicates on line and got somebody from one of them to join him. THere was also a lot of mention of other people spending more money than he did.

Chalk

was anywhere taking bets on if the bids got over a certain price?

ie,
ill bid 40000 euro worth of tokens,
and ill bet 40000 that the bid goes over that amount.

you cant lose......

dudara

I've just read all this thread after reading the article in the Times. It does amaze me why ordinary people would outlay a couple of grand on papers when they'd be better off keeping it for a deposit.

Surely, by now, these people know how "cute Ireland" works?

OfflerCrocGod

What a bunch of fools :rolleyes:

okidoki987

Any chance of pasting that article?
I can't get into it at work.

Roz

okidoki987 wrote:

Any chance of pasting that article?
I can't get into it at work.

Here it is, okidoki987:

The Sunday Times - Ireland

May 08, 2005

Syndicate strikes again to win €275,000 Dublin home
Douglas Dilby

THIRTEEN years after beating the odds as part of a gambling syndicate which scooped the Irish lottery, Paddy Kehoe has struck again.
This time the publican and gambler from Wexford has masterminded a house win. Kehoe, who co-owns the Head Office Bar in Dublin, and several other members of a secret syndicate have won an apartment in Dublin worth €275,000 in a competition run by the Evening Herald.

On Friday, he picked up the keys to the three-bedroom Citywest property, after devising a scheme that substantially shortened the odds in his favour.

“In terms of some of the things I have been involved in, this was like a penalty kick; I was pretty sure I just couldn’t lose,” he said. “I had seen this kind of competition before and I was always one step ahead.”

In 1992, Kehoe was one of about 30 businessmen who bought lottery tickets covering about 1.8m of the 1.95m possible combinations of winning numbers. However, their profit wasn’t quite as big as they’d hoped as the jackpot was shared with two other ticket-holders and the syndicate got just over £1m after spending £820,000 on tickets. As a result of the win by the Lotto syndicate, led by Stefan Klincewicz, a Polish accountant, the numbers were increased from 36 to 42, lengthening the odds of winning.

This time, the strategy involved buying up about 50,000 copies of the Evening Herald, at €1 a go, to collect the tokens needed for entry to the competition. Run from the beginning of February until the end of March, the competition required readers to collect the tokens printed in every copy of the newspaper, each of which was worth various amounts of points. At the end of the period, the person with the highest points tally would win the prize, one of two new homes.

“Either one of these new homes could be yours for absolutely nothing, nada, zilch,” said the blurb for the competition, which was run in conjunction with Myhome.ie, a property website, and Sherry FitzGerald, the auctioneer.

Kehoe took a chance that the newspaper would increase the value of its tokens in the last few days, ahead of the Easter bank holiday weekend. He organised a group to buy every copy of the Evening Herald in Dublin over that period. He snapped up about 50,000 — enough to ensure any other syndicate couldn’t compete.

“We knew there was no racing on Good Friday, so their sales on Thursday would have been down,” said Kehoe. “We reasoned they would try to counter this by upping the value of tokens to encourage people who had been following this to buy and we were ready.”

Vanloads of newspapers arrived at Kehoe’s home where a crew spent days cutting the vouchers out of them. Kehoe would not reveal the identities of fellow members or how many people were in the syndicate, believed to be five.

Sleepy

Surely if the terms and conditions excluded syndicates, he's just invalidated his own win?

Roz

Sleepy wrote:

Surely if the terms and conditions excluded syndicates, he's just invalidated his own win?

No he didn't. Under the Terms and Conditions of the competition, condition number 9 stated:

"9. The entry form must be completed in the name of an individual entrant. Group names, aliases, syndicate names, company names or other collections of individuals are not permitted. The winner of the prize shall be the person named on the successful entry form and ownership of the prize will be transferred to the name of this individual only. Any disputes arising among groups of individuals, syndicates, companies, teams, partnerships or any other collections of individuals in relation to ownership of the prize or division of the prize are matters for those parties only. Independent, MyHome and Hollioake will be in no way responsible for any dispute arising from the participation of syndicates, or groups of individuals."

This didn't invalidate syndicates. This simply meant put the entry in the same of an individual and sort it out among yourselves if you win.

Roz

Oops, typo, sorry! I meant to say this simply meant put the entry in the name of an individual and sort it out among yourselves if you win.

RuggieBear

Sleepy wrote:

Surely if the terms and conditions excluded syndicates, he's just invalidated his own win?

My understanding of it is that Syndicate names are excluded. All entry must have one persons name and that person will be the "winner" of the house, even if they were part of a syndicate. I think this was to stop multiple ownership issues for the Herald and pass them on to the head of any sydicates.

EDIT: What Roz said^^^^

Wertz

Carlitos Way wrote:

Wertz you sound like a really interesting guy. For starters you have no less than 40 mates. Plus they’re all unemployed and available to help you. They all have a car. They love you so much that they are willing to drive to County Meath or where ever, and back to buy you a couple of papers. And to top it all off, they like you so much, you don’t have to worry about them stealing your idea!!!!

PS- Wertz, I’m not being an asshole but that’s hardly realistic now is it. It’s a lot easier to get in contact with someone who works for the Evening Herald. Throw a couple of grand his way (as he can’t enter the competition anyway) and you get an apartment. Publicans have a lot of contacts in a lot of places. Contacts would be essential for this to be pulled off, not a drive to Meath!!

Oh there's no doubt I'm an interesting guy. As for having 40 mates...yeah right. As I stated earlier, I was not aware of the play mechanics of the competition...TBH I was so fed up hearing the f**king ads for it I'd mentally switch off at any mention of it.
My post was just outlining how it could be done.
I know the conspiracy theory way is a lot handier but in such a high profile competition, wouldn't it be a risky move for whoever the insider was?
I know if I had been desparate/foolish enough to shell out a few grand trying to win the property I'd be hella pissed and beying for blood at the thought of being cheated out of my hard earned.

Wahtever happened to "No purchase necessary" competitions? This private lottery thing is so open to abuse and seemingly non-regulated...surely reason enough that there should be gaming laws applied (assuming there wasn't here).
I'd say this whole debacle should serve as a warning to potential players in any future prizedraws.
Competiton loosers can console themselves with the fact that at least they don't have to buy bog roll for a few months at any rate