Britain’s greediest couple?
They raffled their £3m house but pulled the sale after selling too few tickets... then kept the £640,000 profit. So are they:
A COUPLE who promised to raffle their £3million eco-home by selling £25 tickets have prompted fury by slashing the first prize to £110,000 in cash and keeping up to £640,000 for themselves.
Company director Mark Beresford, 61, and wife Sharon, 57, told contestants they would give away their riverside property in Hampshire if they sold 250,000 tickets.
But they sold only 30,000 – raising £750,000 – and so did not trigger the prize draw for the six-bedroom home near Ringwood, on the edge of the New Forest.
In the terms and conditions the couple stated that if they failed to sell enough tickets, the first prize would be 75 per cent of the ticket sales, minus their promotion costs.
They maintain that £450,000 was spent in advertising, marketing and legal bills, and that they are also entitled to keep up to 25 per cent of the ticket sales – roughly £187,000.
The revised first prize of £110,070 was won yesterday by Carina Alcock, from nearby Christchurch in Dorset.
But the couple have been criticised by other entrants for allegedly pocketing the remainder of the funds while keeping their house. Rebecca Gleaves, from Bournemouth, said: ‘It might be legal but that doesn’t make it OK morally.’
Richard Reddington, from London, added: ‘I will never enter another competition like this again.’ Michelle Philpott, from Poole, said: ‘All who entered should be given their money back.’
Mr Beresford, who made his money turning around failing businesses, defended the veracity of the draw and the legitimacy of the costs incurred.
He said last night: ‘If we charged our time on an hourly rate we would be a little bit above minimum wage.’
The couple decided to launch the raffle after offers for the home fell through.
The businessman set up a company, Win A Mega Home Ltd, to stage the house raffle. The firm is legally obliged to post the competition’s costings with Companies House in the near future.
When ticket sales proved slow in October they added a £160,000 Aston Martin as a runner-up prize, though this has also been removed from the prize roster.
The Gambling Commission said it does not comment on individual cases. It can levy fines of up to £5,000 and up to a year in jail for anyone running a fraudulent raffle.
In a statement on the competition website, Mr Beresford stressed that he and his wife made sure the terms of the competition were legal and satisfied Gambling Commission rules. ‘Of course we’re disappointed that the house hasn’t been won as we want to move to Sussex to be near family,’ he said.
‘When we called the winner, they were overcome and we’re so happy for them.’
The draw was made by a random number selector at Sterling Lottery Management, which is audited by the Gambling Commission. The computer selected 100 tickets before Christchurch MP Christopher Chope drew the winner.
The property is a glass and wood home built by the German company Huf Haus.
It has seven reception rooms, including a games and snooker room and a cinema room, and its six double bedrooms all have en suite bathrooms. It has four garages and is energy efficient, with utility bills at £270 a month.
The couple still intend to sell but will now do so by the conventional way of listing it on the market.
‘Doesn’t make it OK morally’