Win a castle for 10 euros? Gaming Commission bans lottery
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6 May 2024 •
Reading time: 2 minutes Unique opportunity to acquire a centuries-old castle evaporates due to intervention by the Gaming Commission.
Valère Duchenne, a real estate agent from Belgium, saw his dream of selling his castle through a lottery evaporate after the Gaming Commission put a stop to this. The lottery, in which participants had a chance to win the centuries-old castle Le Richmond for just 10 euros, was banned due to the lack of a permit.
Le Richmond Castle: Too big for one person to live in
Duchenne, owner of the Le Richmond castle in Godinne Belgium for the past 27 years, decided to enter the lottery because of the challenge of finding a buyer for the unique 900 square meter castle. After almost a year of searching for a suitable solution, he saw the lottery as a creative way to transfer the castle and at the same time give it a new home. So writes Het Belang van Limburg.
Lottery with cash prize attracted a lot of attention
The lottery attracted a lot of attention with lots for only 10 euros each. A cash prize of 200,000 euros would also be awarded to the person who alerted the winner to the lottery. Duchenne emphasized that the lottery was not a game of chance and that he had received approval from the National Lottery.
Gaming Commission: No license, so no lottery
However, the Gaming Commission did not agree with this. According to them, the lottery did indeed fall under gambling legislation as it had all the characteristics of a game of chance with a stake and a chance of winning or losing. The organizer had not applied for a permit and was declared in default.
Duchenne forced to stop lottery
Given the insurmountable obstacles of not having a permit, Duchenne was forced to abolish the lottery. Castle resident Duchenne’s dream to sell his unique home in a fun way unfortunately failed due to the strict rules of the Gaming Commission.