Island Raffle: bag a country estate on the Isle of Arran for £55
Start a new life on the Isle of Arran for only £55.
A country estate on an idyllic Scottish island is being raffled off at just £55 a ticket.
The Balmichael Centre, on the Isle of Arran, will be given to one lucky winner. Not only will they get a two-bedroom cottage worth over £520,000, but the island also plays host to a 42-seat cinema, go karts, duck ponds, a synthetic ice rink and more.
A businesses-minded winner could even lease out retail units.
Photo credit: James L. Clark
Whoever wins the grand prize can keep the estate and run the business, sell it and keep the cash, use it as a holiday home, do Airbnb-style rentals or move in and start a brand new life.
What’s more, the estate's completely paid off, so there's no outstanding debt to pay.
The raffle started on October 1 and thousands of hopefuls have already bought tickets.
Photo credit: James L. Clark
How can I enter?
Single raffle tickets can be bought on the Island Raffle website for £55 each. You can buy as many as you like - 27,300 need to be sold just to break even.
A further cash prize of £7,714 is going on top of the grand prize along with social media raffles that you can enter free of charge.
All profits will go to humanitarian organisation Boots on the Ground, which helps areas hit by natural disasters.
You could be waiting quite some time for the winner though. The Grand Prize Raffle draw will be held on June 1 2017 or earlier if all the tickets are sold before this date.
Who is behind the raffle?
Current Balmichael Centre owner James Clark decided to go ahead with the raffle after hearing about an Australian family who were giving away their Micronesian property in the same way:
“It sounded too good to be true but then we looked into it and they really did it. Some young guy won the whole place. He would never have been able to afford a place like that.
“After talking to lawyers and government officials, we decided to go for it," he said.
“It’s a real out of the box way to do things, and when it succeeds, we’ll be changing not just the winner’s life but those who are less fortunate.
“We could have just sold it the traditional route or even raffled it off as a for profit venture, but we want to do something more meaningful than that. It’s pretty exciting.”
Photo credit: James L. Clark / Boots on the Ground
As well as maintaining the estate, Clark has spent 120 hours building most of the outdoor attractions.
The former US army medic has devoted much of his life to helping people in crisis-hit areas.
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