In a last minute twist, it seems that the Oldborough Retreat prize draw, scheduled for today, has been postponed. In a blow to Brian and Wendy Wilshaw's plan to give away the property in their own draw to avoid the fall in the housing market, the Gambling Commission has started a late investigation into how they organised their competition.

As we reported nearly one month ago, although Brian and Wendy Wilshaw successfully sold all 46,000 tickets for their contest, there were rumours that it may not have met the basic requirements of the Gambling Commission for prize competitions. The main criteria considered by the Gambling Commission to determine if a competition run for profit is a lottery or not seems to be the level of skill involved. The Oldborough Retreat required players to answer a simple question before buying a ticket, with no time limit.

It appears that despite receiving advice from lawyers before running the competition, that the Wilshaw couple may not have satisfied this requirement. As a result, the Gambling Commission has requested that they demonstrate that a sufficient level of skill was involved, before going ahead and picking a winner. In particular, they need to demonstrate that the question was sufficiently difficult to prevent a significant number of players from entering. Until then, it appears that the draw has been postponed, according to the statement on the Oldborough Retreat website.

We're not sure what will happen if the couple fails to satisfy the Gambling Commission that they met this requirement. In the worst case scenario, they may have to reimburse the price of the ticket to each player, which would generate unexpected costs and would be put them in a difficult position given their previous efforts to sell the house and the current credit crisis.

In any case, this will set a precedent for the many similar 'win a house' competitions that have cropped up in recent months, many of which on the back of the success of this one. In addition to the ones we have already reported on this site, a quick search on the internet reveals that more and more people have been jumping on this bandwagon given the falling house prices. For example, here is a new one in Teeside described on the BBC website, together with one in Cheltenham and one in Ludlow. Each one asks players to answer a simple question to be eligible to enter.

Is the timing of this investigation a coincidence, or is the Gambling Commission making a bit of an example of this case? Is it a good thing that they should crack down on these types of competitions at a time when everyone is starting their own in a rush to sell their home? It seems that the Wilshaws would have benefitted from a closer relationship with the Gambling Commission from the very beginning. At the same time, we can't help thinking this last minute investigation on the day of the draw comes very late in the process, especially since the competition was so well publicized in the press and on TV. We'll keep you posted on how this story develops...

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