You have probably seen on social media either ads or people sharing “win a home” posts. They are always the same, usually telling you to like the post and follow the page for more opportunities, possibly “tag 3 friends”, and for “only €100” you could have a chance at winning a house. Awesome, right?! Well…
These “win a home opportunities” aren’t necessarily a scam (although definitely can be), but it certainly creeps into “predatory” territory. Praying on the goals and ambitions of young people in Ireland who feel that they may never own a home by having them enter a pay-in lotto is in poor taste. Of course, what is in even more poor taste is the government allowing the conditions in the housing market to make people believe the only way to obtain homeownership is through a raffle, but I digress. Essentially, we are asking our youth to take up gambling as a means of accessing homeownership without considering the possible financial and mental toll that could take.
These competitions run on the premise that a home valued at, say, €350,000 will need to sell enough tickets to equal that. In this example, a ticket placed at €100 would mean at least 3,500 tickets would need to be sold. Once the threshold of 3,500 has been met, only then will someone be chosen to receive the home.
These raffles can be run by anyone, often times in Ireland being run by local clubs like the GAA but increasingly being run by individual homeowners who have the potential at selling the house at a higher price than through the traditional market. Back in 2021, The Irish Times ran a piece documenting a few stories on home raffles, following both those raffling off their homes and those who have won in the raffle. Notably, the stories they covered share how those raffling off their homes made more in profits that way than if they would have sold their home on the traditional market—one case highlighted in Mayo saw over a €1M in sales! In most Irish cases, the owner of the house typically receives 90% of the money, with 10% going to admin fees of whichever organization facilitated the raffle.
In the event that the ticket sales threshold has not been met, a cash prize is given instead to whoever’s name is drawn from the virtual hat. While different organizations have slightly different rules, the general basis is that the winner receives 90% of whatever money is raised, with 10% going towards administration costs; essentially the same model as successful raffles, only in this instance, the homeowner would not receive any money and would walk away continuing to own the property. Some organizations are less clear, however. “Win a Home Cobh” also have a cash prize if the threshold isn’t met, but stipulate that it would be minus any fees incurred by the promoter. That means it could be more than the standard 10% and you would have no way of knowing.
In the UK back in 2019, one couple came under heat when they tried to raffle off their home valued at £3M but didn’t sell enough tickets, instead only raising £750,000. A cash alternative was offered to the winner, but they only received £110,000. The owners claim that the cost that comes with these raffles are very high and that they legally followed all the terms and conditions, but that did not stop controversy on the substantially lower value given to the winners.
One sentence in the BBC article that I found to be very indicative of the predatory nature of these raffles came from a quote that said, “We live in a council house, so this would have been an absolute dream”. The fact that people are turning to these kinds of measures because they have been failed by their governments and society, on the backs of others raffling off their homes in hopes of making a higher profit margin, should have us concerned on where we are heading in the housing market.
All of this is not to say you are a fool if you enter yourselves into these competitions. If you have the money to spare, then hey, why not. Usually it goes to a good cause, like supporting a local GAA club who needs new equipment or a new pitch, or a school who is raising money for better resources for their students. But I challenge you to stop and understand your feelings behind your motivation to enter—are you taking a gamble and will feel distraught losing a few hundred euros, money you don’t have to spare, in an attempt at becoming a homeowner? Or are you simply doing it for the craic and happy to raise money for a just cause?
