$100 house auction 'illegal gambling'

where do i bid?

Who decides the winning bid?, it must be a lottery

I disagree with MR Maxwells idea that it is not a lottery,

If you refer to the definitions below, or check out your own dictionary it seems obvious it is gambling!

auction 1. A public sale in which property or items of merchandise are sold to the highest bidder.

gamble a. To bet on an uncertain outcome, as of a contest. b. To play a game of chance for stakes. 2. To take a risk in the hope of gaining an advantage or a benefit.

I have to say though it is cleaver idea, and you have to try new ideas to sell things in the current climate. This is a win win for the Maxwells as if they don't sell enough tickets they cancel the draw (sell it the normal way), and if they sell enough tickets they make the profit they want.

Although I am not an expert but if it is deemed gambling they would need a licence due to the value of the contest and are governed by the rules (overseer) etc (2003 Gambling Act). I am sure the POLICE would need to look in to it if it became popular!!, maybe there could be some extra revenue for the government too!

Meets the definition of Gambling under the Gambling Act...

This is a fascinating approach! The way I see it it is spreading the huge cost of buying a house over thousands of people yet noone is being mightily stung apart from the fact that they have to pay a non-refundable 100.00 to participate in the auction which in itself is unusual (you wouldnt normally expect to pay to register in an auction and if unsuccessful I would not expect to pay anything. I still do not quite get the bidding process but it is a refreshing-looking approach. I imagine we will hear more about this in time to come if it is legal The biggest problem i see is attracting that level of buyer interest. I mean how do you get 5000 people to look through one house if they want to do that before they bid?

A $100 raffle ticket with the organiser pulling the plug if they don't sell enough tickets. Hmmm?

So its an expensive lucky dip.

Punters would have more chance at winning something if they bought twenty lotto tickets. And prolonging the pain of knowing you haven't won something, is a lot more fun when there's 200 lines of numbers to cross off.

Perhaps the struggling car dealers will start doing the same thing, in order to realize full retail value of some of the cars that will never sell.

And at the very least, the Maxwell's might acknowledge this is a terrific no lose deal for them personally, and everyone else is just taking a punt, with money they can probably not afford to gamble.

Save your money for lotto folks, at least if you don't win something, some of your losses go to charity.

Nothing unique about it. I've seen this method of selling before:

http://www.maxbid.co.za/

not really a novel idea, it sounds like an expensive raffle crossed with a pyramid scheme.

if it indeed has the format of an auction, then what is stopping you from bidding $1,000 straight away? why would an auction stop at $15 or $26 when the bidders are bidding for something that is severly undervalued in relation to their outlay of cash?

sounds like some agents trying to stimulate some sales with a daft new approach

I want to bid on this without question, but I can't find it on Trademe :(

You needed to provide the link.