There’s a new house selling winning game in town— Play4Property.com, a Florida-based website, where the player who guesses a ball’s exact location from a photo wins a house. The site was just launched in the U.S., U.K. and Australia.
Because private lotteries are illegal in Florida, the game had to be designed with some skill involved. The skill involved in Play4Property? Pay $35 and guess where the center of a ball will land, looking at a photograph of an actual scene in soccer (where the ball has been removed from the photo). If you pick the spot, you win. (Hmm… I’m guessing this is more dumb luck than skill.)
According to the Contest Rules:
The Winner
14. The Winner shall be determined within ten days of the Closing Date or if earlier ten days after the Maximum Number of Entrants is received. The most likely position of the centre position of the football will be determined by the Judge, using his expertise of the game in the Photograph, in the presence of a solicitor. The Judge’s chosen co-ordinates will be electronically checked against those of each Entrant and the Entrant whose chosen co-ordinates match or are closest to that of the Judge will be the Winner. If two or more Entrants are equally the closest to the co-ordinates chosen by the Judge this shall constitute a tie ( “Tie “). The Winner will be contacted as soon as reasonably practicable following the judgement of the Competition ( “Winner Notification Date “).
“Lotteries are not legal to run online, but this has no odds,” said exec Anthony Davis. “This is no different than a sports person being paid to win a game.”
Davis says the competition is perfectly legal under a 2-year-old federal law that permits games of skill to be played online– the The Skill Game Protection Act (H.R. 2610), which was sponsored by Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton.
The first Play4Property competition for a home will last 90 days. The winner will select from 50 homes in the database or Play4Property will buy another home. They’ll also throw in the first year of homeowner’s insurance.
The value of the house that can be selected is determined by the number of entrants. There are 6 levels, starting at 15,000– 27,999 entrants, allowing for a house value selection up to $300,000, all the way to the Diamond level 270,000- 400,000 entrants, where the winner can choose a house valued up to $8 million. Or the winner can take 50% of the house value in cash and run.
The winner will have to pay taxes on the value of the house (and the free insurance), probably as ordinary income. Still, not bad for a $35 investment.
A test of the concept in England last year drew 46,000 entries, according to Davis and a website devoted to the contest. The game lasted two and a half months, but a government inquiry into its legality interrupted the process. The winner was named three months later.
Last year, an Ocala author ran an essay contest to try to unload her $1.25 million home. Clementina Marie Giovannetti eventually called it all off, due to a lack of entries. (SunSentinel)
So far, neither Florida state officials or the state Attorney General have tried to put the kibosh on the game.
Stay tuned.
Sources: SunSentinel via theClozing.com; Play4Property Contest Rules
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