£1m home Contest winner gets cash instead of house
THE winner of a competition for a £1 million house in North Somerset has not actually won the cottage.
The terms of the competition, which was being run by Bristol businesswoman Tricia Hamilton, meant that if not enough tickets were sold the winner would be given cash instead.
Hat designer Tricia, inset, had come up with the idea of the online ‘spot the hat’ competition to win her 19th-century cottage in Pill after deciding she wanted to move to live nearer her sick mother.
The competition for the four-bedroom North Somerset house, which complied with Gambling Commission rules, cost £10 to enter and asked entrants to watch an interactive video and mark the spot a hat is thrown into the air.
But not enough tickets were sold for the competition, meaning Tricia is now planning to keep the house and sell it.
She said in an email to the entrants: “The whole process of the competition has been a roller coaster of emotions, especially being a trailblazer on this type of competition.
“Sadly the house has not been won, but the winner has won a significant amount of money.
“I so wanted the house to be won for so many reasons.
“I now have to relook at selling my house. I will be renting for a period of time nearer to my mother who is not well and the reason for me wanting to move closer to her.
“The housing market has stalled and I need to move on.”
The winner, who was chosen by an independent judge appointed through a third party, lives in the South East of England and wanted to remain anonymous.
As well as cash to the winner, five per cent of proceeds from the competition have gone to local power chair charity Goals Beyond Grass, which recently had their power chairs vandalised.
Tricia added: “Thank you to everyone for your kind words of support and for entering the competition, it is amazing that someone has won such a great sum of money just in time for Christmas.
“The competition is now closed, but I am working with a company that is managing a number of these competitions and will be keeping you in touch of other houses that are now being run and you might be interested in.”