Members of the public have voiced their concerns at the way a competition to win a house in the island has been handled.

Entrants have contacted the Examiner saying that the promoter of the ’winapropertycompetition’, which originally had a house said to be worth £800,000 as the main prize, has ’deviated’ from the terms and conditions.

Anne Lumley, who began the competition last year, previously stated that not enough entries (45,000) were made in time of the prize draw’s deadline on May 21 and that a cash prize would be given instead of the house.

A winner of that cash prize has since been announced.

But Ms Lumley refused to tell the Examiner how much that cash prize was.

In a message published on the competition website, Ms Lumley wrote: ’The draw for winapropertycompetition was held today, June 14, 2018, witnessed by five local entrants and the winning entry belonged to Sarah from the Isle of Man!

’Sarah reserves her right not to disclose her surname. Around 6,500 tickets were sold.’

However, entrants are upset at the lack of transparency and the fact that the prize draw was not witnessed by an accountant and solicitor, as the terms and conditions stated.

A number of entrants have taken to Facebook to voice their concerns about the competition. The group, called Winapropertycompetition, has more than 340 members with some demanding a re-draw.

A Peel resident, who has asked not to be named, told the Examiner: ’I bought two tickets at £20 each.

’In the terms and conditions on her website, section 7.4, she states: "The winner will be drawn in the presence of an accountant and solicitor with no vested interest in the competition. Members of the press are welcome."

’I received an email notification yesterday saying that the draw had taken place, "witnessed" by five local entrants. Therefore, the people present at the draw HAD a vested interest in the competition.

’She also stated that the draw would be streamed live - no one that I know saw this "draw" take place.

’There are quite a few sceptical people who are thinking that something does not feel right about this competition.

’Anne also stated that the accounts would be audited. I would be very interested in seeing these actual accounts.

’My concerns are that she has deviated from the terms and conditions.

’Who was the solicitor present? Who was the accountant present? Local entrants were not supposed to "witness" the draw as they had a vested interest in the completion... something feels off,’ she said.

Another entrant from the island, Geoff Kelly, said: ’I bought a lot of tickets.

’This is awful. None of the conditions of the competition have been met.

’There has been no official draw using a random number generator and aired live on the Facebook page, as per the terms of the competition.’

Mark Cupitt, who bought one ticket, said he was concerned about the lack of details given after being sent an email.

’There seems to be no transparency. People wonder why there was no recorded live draw with the correct people present,’ he said.

’Hopefully it is all above board as a very good opportunity to win a lovely property, but a real lack of transparency has us all guessing.’

Ms Lumley said that our previous report about 14,000 tickets being bought was incorrect, as it was 14,000 entries that had been made.

Only around 6,500 tickets were actually bought she insisted, although far more went through the ’process’ on the website.

The owner of the farm house Cronk ne Fessag, near Cronk y Voddy, said that the site’s database showed the number of all entries, including those that ’never ended up being paid for’.

When pressed about the winner announcement, she replied: ’I’m taking legal advice as I can’t cope with all this on my own any more so I’ll comment once I’ve done that.’

Prize

The Examiner contacted the Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission.

Gaming inspector Mark Varley said: ’The law in the Isle of Man doesn’t generally permit lotteries for private gain without a licence.

’While the prize itself can be Manx without needing a licence - a house in the island in this case - the lottery cannot be conducted without a licence (there is an exception for registered charities which doesn’t apply here because the promoter is not a registered charity).

’The only licence that currently permits this activity is an online licence (specifically an Online Gambling Regulation Act 2001 licence) which costs £35,000 per year.

’The reason for licensing is to make sure that the lottery is conducted fairly and safely. For example, when we issue a licence, we ensure that children will be excluded, that the terms and conditions are clear, that the draw is done fairly and that criminals can’t benefit, by for instance buying all of the tickets with the proceeds of crime and converting it into a property (i.e. money laundering).

’When this draw first attracted media attention, we spoke to the organiser and satisfied ourselves that the island’s legislation was understood and we understood from that dialogue that the lottery would be being promoted outside the Isle of Man.

’The promotion of the lottery outside the Isle of Man means that the draw is not subject to Isle of Man law and therefore not subject to our scrutiny or comment.’

Police confirmed that they have not received any complaints.

Note: We have removed comments from this report.