The Millionaire Mansion Contest

Article by : Eva Reed Aug 11, 2020

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Updated: Mar 24, 2023

You probably already know that online casino gambling isn’t the only way to win sweet prizes: after all, there are lotteries, scratch-off cards, sports betting, and many more. The SlotsUp team wants to focus on this ‘many more’ part and tell you about the most interesting contests out there: the existing, future, and past ones.

We’ll start with the Millionaire Mansion Contest that began in 2018: the contest offered participants a fantastic opportunity to win a luxury mansion along with other awesome prizes. The contest was a charity one (the contest holders promised to donate a certain amount of money to charity organizations), lasted longer than expected (for almost two and a half years instead of initially promised two years), and drew a lot of attention. Read further to learn more about the Millionaire Mansion competition, about what opportunities were out there, and what you can expect of such contests.

Millionaire Mansion: All You Need to Know About the Contest

Rules and prizes are probably the most important things to learn about any contest: after all, they help you decide whether this contest is worthy of your money and attention or not. In this section, you’ll learn everything you need to know about the Millionaire Mansion’s rules, prizes, and, of course, the stunning main prize – the mansion itself.

The house came with a 10-acre beautiful landscaped grounds, where you could sit and enjoy an amazing view.

Let’s Start With the Rules

For your chance to win the Millionaire Mansion competition, all you had to do is buy a ticket and successfully answer the multiple-choice question. The tickets were limited to 10,000 per person, and each correctly answered entry gave you one chance of winning. Just like in many other contests, in this one you had to be at least 18 years old to participate.

To purchase a ticket, you had to click on the Buy Tickets button on the website and then fill in the online entry form. After that, you were asked to complete the payment process and correctly answer that multiple-choice question we mentioned above. A correct answer gave you a chance to win one of the awesome prizes available: the main mansion prize and nine runners-up prizes of £10,000 each.

The house, which was the main prize, truly looks like a dream one.

Each ticket cost £10; there also was a booking fee of 50p for the secure payment transaction process. There was also a ticket limit: each person could purchase no more than 10,000 tickets.

The contest holders mentioned that they had the right to substitute the main prize if less than 500,000 tickets were sold by the closing date. The substitute was a cash alternative equal to the total amount of payments received minus the booking fee, and minus 20% to cover the charitable donation and minus 40% for administration/ promotion costs; or actual costs incurred by the closing date – whichever was lower. If this didn’t reach £100,000, a minimum of £100,000 was promised as a cash prize alternative.

The prize draw was completely random: the winners were chosen by a computer using an algorithm.

The Awesome Prizes

The main prize was the millionaire mansion itself: a beautiful country house nestled in a 10-acre estate in the heart of Devon. The house came with a self-contained garden apartment, a fully stocked wine cellar, a leisure complex that included gym and pool, a 3-hole golf course, a dog kennel, a four-car garage, all gardening implements (including even a tractor!), as well as all furniture and fittings.

Take a look at this elegant dining room, perfect both for private dinners and parties.

But that wasn’t all: with it came a Rolls Royce and £50,000 of cash. On top of that, a winner was promised a housekeeper and a gardener who were paid for a year.

The alternative for the cash prize was at least £100,000 in cash if less than 500,000 tickets were sold. There were also 9 runner-up prizes of £10,000 each on offer.

The Dream House

The stunning detached house was built in the 1990s and designed by the current owners.
Situated in a Devon hamlet, the property featured a sweeping driveway, 10 acres of immaculately landscaped grounds, 3-hole golfing greens, a separate leisure complex, and a self-contained apartment with garden and storage barns.

On the ground floor, there was a large reception area with an impressive staircase and fireplace. The grand drawing room, dining room, and barroom had access to a large entertaining terrace with a covered barbecue area and steps leading down to sweeping lawns with established trees and shrubbery.

Take a look at this cozy bedroom, where the lucky winner could relax and unwind after a long day.

There was also a library, 2 WCs, and a fully equipped kitchen-breakfast room, with French doors leading to a walled garden. The basement housed a utility room, freezer room, wine cellar, and a storage area. An integrated vacuuming system serviced all rooms.

Upstairs, the house had four large bedrooms, all en-suite. The master suite featured a dressing room, sitting room area, and a bathroom with a large whirlpool and mood-lit bath.

The separate leisure complex had an indoor heated swimming pool, with doors leading to a paved patio area, a gym, changing rooms, shower, and WC.

Outside there was also a detached four-car garage with a separate apartment above.

The secluded property was fully secured with electric gates to both the main and tradesman’s entrance, CCTV, and an alarm system.

With the Rolls Royce in the driveway, a fully stocked bar and wine cellar, a heated indoor pool, and huge grounds to enjoy, this mansion sounded like a dream!

As you can see, the bar is indeed fully stocked and looks very stylish.

Furnishings, fixtures, and fittings were included, and the owners were even leaving a stock of 600 spare light bulbs for every lamp and fitting in the house!

What Would You Get in the Case of Winning?

Just like we mentioned above, the winner of the Millionaire Mansion could unpack their belongings and start enjoying a luxurious lifestyle from day one. This mansion would give the winner a perfect opportunity to unwind, relax, and enjoy the property that could stay in their family for generations.

The Millionaire Mansion could become an ultimate family home, perfect West Country holiday house, secret weekend retreat, sports lovers’ plaything, or the party house to share magical moments with friends. However, if the winner decided not to use this house for themselves, they could sell it.

FAQ

What Were the Odds of Winning the Main Prize?

That depended entirely on how many tickets you bought and the total number of tickets sold before the draw date. There was a cap of 10,000 tickets per person, and the contest runners had also put a cap on selling 1,000,000 tickets or closing date of 23:59 on 30 November 2019, whichever came first. For example, if you bought 10 tickets (AND CORRECTLY ANSWER THE QUESTION) and the runners sold a total of 500,000 tickets, then your odds were 10 in 500,000. That’s the same as 1 in 50,000, almost 28 times more likely than winning the lottery! Put this into perspective, the odds of winning the lottery are approximately 1 in 13,983,816, that’s a whopping 1 in 14 million! (figures reported by the Telegraph in May of 2017)

How Old You Had to Be to Participate?

You had to be aged over 18 to buy a ticket and enter the competition.

What Did You Have to Do to Enter the Contest?

You had to click on the Enter button on the website. You also had to be aged over 18 to enter.
To enter the competition, you had to fill in the online entry form, complete the payment process, and answer one multiple-choice question correctly. Each successful entry then entered the prize draw for a chance to win one of the prizes available: the main mansion prize and nine runners-up prizes of £10,000 each.

How Were the Winners Selected?

All entries that answered the multiple-choice question correctly entered a random draw. The winners were selected randomly by a computer using an algorithm.

What Were the Prizes?

Initially, there were ten prizes in the competition. The main prize was the property including the main house and land which included a 3-hole golf course, swimming pool, gym, self-contained apartment, the contents and furniture, a fully stocked wine cellar and bar, staff for a year, a Rolls Royce, house bills paid for a year, and Stamp Duty.

The wine cellar in the mansion was impressive – and aesthetically pleasing as well.

The main prize didn’t include building and content insurance, car insurance, any maintenance or upkeep costs associated with the property, any phone bills related to the property, council tax, personal possessions, jewelry, silver, art and photography and items of sentimental value belonging to the current owners, and any other costs once the property was supposed to be transferred to the winner.

There were also nine prizes of £10,000 each.

However, in the end, the person claiming the top prize instead won £100,000 in cash, with runners up claiming £10,000 each – all of which was in line with the competition’s terms and conditions.

Was Contest Legal?

Yes. The “Win a Millionaire Mansion” was a prize competition. The specialist’s legal advice was taken to ensure compliance with the Gambling Act 2005 prior to the launch of the competition, and the contest holders followed this advice.

How Did It End?

Just like we mentioned above, the contest was supposed to last two years, starting from 1 December 2017 and supposedly closing in November 2018. However, the contest holders decided to prolong it for another 12 months and end in November 2019, which didn’t please a certain number of participants. Unexpectedly, the contest finished earlier than promised, on 26 June 2019, with contest holders explaining that they weren’t able to run the contest anymore.

The contest’s promoter, Ogilvie Promotions Ltd released the following statement:

“The main prize will not be the house as enough tickets have not been sold but instead the cash alternative as promised.

It is a family-run company and the family feel at this point they have no choice. The operating of the competition has at all times been very difficult and obstacles relentless.

We have all given our [utmost] to make this work and have always done what we thought right. Recently some people have complained to the ASA and to date, this has cost us a significant amount in legal fees.

We will be honouring full payments to our Charities. We will also be honouring the draw of the competition”.

As not enough tickets were sold, the contest holders didn’t select the house as the main prize. Instead, the person claiming the top prize won £100,000 in cash, with runners up claiming £10,000 each, just like they were promised.

The main prize winner was Michael Salmon. The lucky runners up were: Jolanta Bloomfield, Josette Shaw, Edward Fleet, Faye Fulton, Oliver Moore, Daniel Lee Crooke, Isla Jarvis-Versnick, Julien Speed, and Elaine Green.

As you can see, even the biggest and charity-oriented competitions don’t often end as expected, as there are many unpredictable factors in place, like the number of tickets that had to be sold. However, just like in casino gambling, even if you don’t get the main prize, this doesn’t mean you won’t get anything at all: the cash prizes awarded to winners were very satisfactory.
Btw, you can also check casino winner stories at SlotsUp.

Should you participate in such contests? Are they worth the wait? The decision is always up to you. We believe such contests are definitely worth checking up, at least: so that you know that there are plenty of awesome opportunities out there. And who knows, maybe you’ll become a lucky winner one day too!