House Raffle Scams

Kurooi · 25-09-2021 11:42pm

Totally a scam, but brilliant for the seller.

Pocket at least twice the cash, give people no chance of a viewing, no survey or valuation, give the buyer zero recourse in case of any legal issues... I mean what does happen if you are the lucky one to win it, but a planning permission is missing or the place was just done up for the photos and is actually in dire need of repair. You will turn it down?

This is taking advantage of the desparation around housing, I wish it was illegal or at least media incl. Facebook stopped pushing this stuff, but I don't really see that happening.

26-09-2021 8:07am

It's not a scam!

You buy a ticket, you have a chance to win something, in this case a house.

It's yours if you win, do what you wish with it.

Smouse156 · 26-09-2021 8:45am

Almost guaranteed these scams will be outlawed in a few years

I remember back in the boom days people were queuing for a mile to get into these pyramid schemes that were being run in the Cork area…€5000 was minimum entry and if you got 16 fools then you got a “gift”. They probably weren’t illegal then either, or people would defend these “scams” as not scams due to the fact that gift giving was legal with the organisers hosting open events in hotels. But now widely recognised as scams.

SupaCat95 · 26-09-2021 5:56pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117940466#Comment_117940466

The real damage of those pyramid schemes wasnt the money lost but breaking down of relations and bad blood between families and friends. I was in Cork in that crazy time. The fallout was terrible. I was invited until a senior Co-worker came up to me and told a group of us that it was a con and was going to be made illegal by the then minister of Justice in a few week. I was so lucky I avoided it.

SupaCat95 · 26-09-2021 5:59pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117940399#Comment_117940399

Its preying on the weak and the vulnerable in society. I guarantee there are some dopes with less than the deposit for a real house who will sink all their saving/inheritance into these scams.

26-09-2021 6:01pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117942269#Comment_117942269

So is all gambling 😊

SupaCat95 · 26-09-2021 6:02pm

I love the line in the Big Short, for Jared Vennett: "Tell me the difference between stupid and illegal and I'll have my wife's brother arrested".

BTW I have a three brothers in law, that would fit that profile.

SupaCat95 · 26-09-2021 6:04pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117942275#Comment_117942275

True..... a fool and his money are soon parted. Then you get into the argument between gambling, speculating and common commerce.

Calahonda52 · 26-09-2021 6:08pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117936703#Comment_117936703

It was widely reported in the paper about the one in skerries after the inspectors were in

miamee · 27-09-2021 10:15am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117937445#Comment_117937445

On Raffall.com at least, this is not true about the majority of the jackpot going to the owner. If the person hosting the raffle doesn't reach the amount of expected ticket sales and decides not to provide the prize (house) then they get nothing (from their FAQ)

What happens if all of the raffle tickets aren't sold by the draw date?

The raffle draw will take place on the scheduled date and time no matter how many tickets have been sold. If you provide the prize to the winner then we will transfer the proceeds from ticket sales to you. If you decide not to provide the prize to the winner then we will pay the winner a cash compensation amounting to 75% of the ticket sales and you will not receive any money.

JimmyVik · 27-09-2021 12:38pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117944320#Comment_117944320

So if you sold only €100k worth of tickets then you will get nothing and the winner of the raffle will get €75k.

Handy €25k for whoever is keeping that too.

Total scam.

miamee · 27-09-2021 12:40pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117944996#Comment_117944996

I'm assuming the website keep that themselves but I haven't thoroughly read the rest of the terms/faqs.

JimmyVik · 27-09-2021 12:46pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117945003#Comment_117945003

Must create one of those websites. :)

awec · 27-09-2021 4:58pm

To all those declaring this model a "scam", do you actually know what a raffle is?

Pay some money, you might win a house but the odds are massively stacked against you. Same as every single other raffle that has ever existed for anything ever.

Someone gets a house for 20 euro or whatever, everyone else pays 20 euro and gets nothing.

NIMAN · 27-09-2021 5:13pm

Football club local to me ran one for €100.

It was a prominent local businessman's son or daughter that won it, via a gifted ticket from him.

But I later learnt he bought a dozen tickets or something, so fair play to him.

And here's a belting story. Derry City FC ran such a draw for an apartment in the city maybe 20yrs or so ago.

Guy won it. No connection to the club or anyone employed by it.

Then they did a similar draw about 6 or 7 years later, and same guy won again. Kid you not. Whats the odds of that!

Smouse156 · 27-09-2021 8:46pm

To those that believe the winner gets 75%, ye are dreaming!

look at the below, owners pretended they had 500k of expenses and then re-listed the home. The “winner” for 110k

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/8175132/three-million-house-raffle-mark-beresford/

The winner was scammed due to the made up expenses by the owner totally unverified by the company running the raffle.

I could sell 1000 at €10 a pop, then claim €8000 expenses, charity gets 5%, raffle company gets 10% and the “winner” gets €500.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/13750981/millionaire-couple-pocketed-500k-raffle-home-market/

Anyone that doesn’t think the winner or entrants here got scammed hasn’t a clue what a scam is!

awec · 28-09-2021 12:20am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117947192#Comment_117947192

Yes I am sure thee are dodgy ones, but suggesting all these raffles are scams is daft.

I have actually never seen one run here for a house by a private seller, but do see them frequently for registered organisations (GAA clubs, soccer clubs etc). If I were a member of these clubs or associated in any way I'd have no issues buying a ticket, at the end of the day it's just gambling and you have to understand that it's basically a donation with a fractional chance of getting lucky.

They are highly profitable for whoever runs them, but again, that's the whole point. If people don't get this they don't understand raffles.

I do not believe anyone buys these tickets thinking it's a genuine way to find housing for themselves. The whole "preying on the desperate" angle seems very far fetched to me.

Smouse156 · 28-09-2021 10:04am

I suppose the main difference is with GAA/sports clubs, people don’t mind denoting to them and I’m sure they wouldn’t try to claim over 50% expenses. Nobody really wants to denote to a greedy house owner.

mariaalice · 28-09-2021 11:30am

It's not illegal but they are a magnet for gambling addicts who after the fact comparing about them.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/house-raffles-when-your-home-is-literally-just-the-ticket-1.4658044

callaway92 · 28-09-2021 12:05pm

I flagged this on a thread not too long ago and got a bit of stick for it funnily enough. - https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058176461/legalities-of-raffling-off-house/p1

My personal favourite is the 'Single Mom raffling off house'. Why she needs to mention she's a single mom, I do not know.

It just screams 'easy money' to me and to be honest, it is a borderline scam. There's no way either that Raffal walk away with all proceeds other than the 75% of what is raised. A lot will go to the person running the raffle.

The reason I would call it a borderline scam is I think it's disgusting that these people talk about giving money/proceeds to charities. A) They HAVE to, to make it legal and B) They are making so much profit above the valuation anyway that it is a scummy positive PR spin as if they are donating to the charity from the good of their heart.

Sick of the 'wow, what a great gesture' crap from droolers then when you question it.

The 'we want to give a chance to someone who cannot afford a mortgage' etc...sigh

The Limerick one - https://twitter.com/prizehomelim - Posts have slowed down on that. I'd say sales have been atrocious, and rightly so.

-- --

Response I received from Raffall when I asked them before (actually looks like charities don't get anything unless it sells out fully):

We are a SaaS (software as a service) raffle platform that enables users to host their own raffles and competitions online. The platform provides 100% security for both hosts and entrants by ensuring that ticket revenue remains blocked until winners confirm receipt of their prizes.

When we have to pay 75% cash compensation to a winner, the host does not receive anything. The remaining 25% is to cover our usual fee and the associated costs that arise when dealing with a dispute situation.

Charity donations are chosen by the individual host and are paid from the host's share of the revenue in a fully completed competition.

atticu · 28-09-2021 12:37pm

Love the results of this raffle:

https://raffall.com/206041/enter-raffle-to-win-windublinhomecarandcash-hosted-by-rory-mac-clancy

winner: Won Dublin Home Car and Cash on 27th August 2021

winners comments: Rating: Shocked, sad to not win the house and car but the cash compensation will help me tremendously.

So, they didn’t win a house and a car!

callaway92 · 28-09-2021 12:41pm

That is actually depressing

Kashmir21 · 07-12-2021 3:08pm

Reading this thread and just thought I'd throw this out there...

I know a guy who ran the social media campaign for one of these 'Win a House' competitions a few years back. When the ticket selling was nearing complete, he was able to see (via back-end access to the web shop) that a huge majority of tickets were still not sold. So with this knowledge he hedged his bets and got his wife and presumably family members to buy 5, maybe 10x tickets which would obviously increase their odds of winning. And as luck would have it when the draw was made, his wife was the lucky ticket that was pulled out!!! The house was valued at €285,000 and they cashed it all in (tax free) for the financial equivalent. I still to this day cannot believe that the GAA club running the competition, did not spot this and call it out as a conflict of interest. But there you have it, that's what you're up against with these competitions.

worded · 28-12-2023 6:41pm

The credit union scandals - unreal the greed against 1000s of savers. I enter these draws myself yearly and feel suspicious now ...

https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/central-bank-finds-major-issues-with-car-prize-draws-at-many-credit-unions/36683567.html

I was in a house draw years ago and there were 10 prizes from the gaff to lesser prizes.

I was really surprised at how rushed the live draw was and they chose the top prize first, no foreplay to the top prize. Something didn't seem right.

Also ... In any raffle if all the tickets are not sold there is a temptation for the sellers to enter their own names as they are "free" to them.

The odds are so bad with the national.lottery but at least it's unlikely to be corrupt

AnRothar · 28-12-2023 7:29pm

The article you link is dated 2018.

Anything more recent?

House Raffle Scams

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