Mark and Sharon Beresford, a retired couple from Hampshire, were hit with multiple allegations of abuse. They falsely advertised a raffle intended to sell their opulent mansion, Avon Place. The couple opened the raffle with the dream of selling just 250,000 tickets at £25 each. It only sold 30,000 tickets and still made £750,000. Unfortunately, this sum barely scratched the surface when it came to offsetting their huge outreach expenses.
The Beresfords have spent £640,000 promoting, marketing, public relationsing and legally fighting to get to this point since they started their journey. After a handful of accepted offers on their house evaporated, they decided to pursue a raffle as an underutilized method of sale. The raffle’s official rules required that any cash prize be 75% of gross ticket sales, after deducting promotional expenses. Considering their write-in costs, the duo would have had to sell 140,000 tickets on just one day to not lose money.
The original prize claimed a magnificent super-modern all steel and glass domicile valued at £3 million. This magnificent property even boasted six bedrooms and had stunning views across the River Avon Valley and the surrounding countryside. Crumblies but due to low ticket sales, only one prize was awarded and the prize reduced to £110,000. The decision has faced backlash, with many potential ticket buyers alleging that they were deceived as to the raffle’s odds of success.
Mark Beresford from the campaign said it was disappointing not to be able to deliver the home directly to a winner. He stated, “Of course it’s disappointing not to be handing over the house to the winner but we gave it our best shot. We calculated the prize exactly as described in the terms and conditions, which all entrants had to accept.”
Their couple’s twitter handle, @WinAMegaHome, which has since been deleted, added to that speculation with its timebomb-level intentions. They intend to move to East Sussex, once they have sold their home, which has been at the centre of the controversial raffle.
In light of these conclusions, everyone is going to look more critically at what the Beresfords did. First and foremost, ticket buyers deserve straight answers about what they’re investing in. The pair hopes to turn around a tough situation while addressing accusations of unfair and misleading practices.
“The costs incurred were very high and began in 2016 with extensive legal advice and opinions about the interpretation of the rules covering prize draw competitions.” – Mark Beresford