'Omaze house raffles are helping our businesses'

Tallulah Darby likes that Omaze has put a spotlight on a small place like Blakeney

Business owners in a small town where luxury homes have been won as raffle prizes say they have benefited from the publicity generated by the competitions.

Omaze has held two prize draws featuring multi-million-pound mansions in Blakeney, Norfolk, both heavily promoted on television and online.

A family that runs a local fish stall says the competition has "brought in more people" - and the director of a holiday homes letting company says the advertisements "show people the beauty of the area".

In 2023, former paratrooper Daren Bell won a £4.5m home and the winner of a second property, valued at £6m, is still waiting to receive the keys due to unresolved planning breaches.

Omaze, a for-profit company, partners competitions with charities and celebrity endorsements using a sweepstake system, offering large value homes as prizes.

Founded in 2012 in the US, it provides at least 17% of the money raised through its prize draws to charities.

This nine-bed mansion that overlooks the Blakeney salt marshes and harbour, and comes with a heated swimming pool, was the prize for the first raffle

Mr Bell won the Blakeney through a £10 Omaze prize draw in 2023, and now lives there with his family.

His home is just a short walk from the harbour, where the family-run fish stall, By The Quayside, has been part of the community for the past 17 years.

Tallulah Darby, 21, who works at the stall, has described Blakeney as a "hidden gem".

She said the Omaze competition had "definitely brought in so many more people around the area".

Daren Bell at the Norfolk mansion he won in 2023

Tallulah first saw the advertising for the house raffle on TV and said she was thrilled to recognise her own town.

"It's quite amazing, because you only ever think of those competitions happening in places like Cornwall, Devon or London," she said.

At least two members of her family bought tickets for the draw, which she described as a rare opportunity to win a home they "would never dream of being able to own".

James Player, 41, the director of The Blakeney Cottage Company, said he was "very lucky to live here".

His firm rents out holiday homes along the coast. He said the house raffles had been "marketed widely", showcasing "the beauty of the area".

James Player believes the marketing of the Omaze properties has showcased "the beauty of the area"

He added: "You have these beautiful drone shots over the salt marsh and things like that, which people are gonna really like and really draw people in.

"It is a little nudge, a little reminder of how nice it is and encourage them to come back."

He said the competitions succeeded in "getting people living in houses".

"One of the things that we hate around here is just houses sitting empty for months and months at a time," he added.

North Norfolk District Council said it was waiting to receive an application to "regularise" the planning breaches

The winner of the recent £6m home competition was still waiting to receive the keys because unresolved planning breaches had held up the transfer.

Vicky Curtis-Cresswell said she felt "pure joy" after winning the property in Blakeney, Norfolk, in the Omaze and Comic Relief raffle.

The Omaze mansion looks across to Blakeney Point, a National Nature Reserve, where seals breed in winter and birds such as terns nest in spring.