Man wins island resort in a $49 raffle: How well does that work?
Some contest entrants would consider themselves lucky if they won a gift basket or a puzzle in a raffle. But for an Australian man, identified only as Joshua, the stakes were much higher.
Joshua鈥檚 was just one of 75,485 tickets purchased for $49 (US) each in a raffle with the ultimate prize at stake 鈥� on the Micronesian island of Kosrae. Joshua will soon take over the management of the 16-room resort from its current owners, the Beitz family.
鈥淲e look at ourselves as everyday people 鈥� we weren鈥檛 highly educated people when we came here, just average, basic people,鈥� said Doug Beitz, the resort鈥檚 former owner, in an interview with news.com.au, 鈥渁nd we think, with the raffle, we can hopefully leave the island in the hands of someone who鈥檚 not a millionaire, but in the hands of .鈥�
Joshua read about the raffle while reading the news at work one day. In the end, he purchased three tickets, including the one that won him the Nautilus.
鈥淲hat started as a simple click of a news article during my lunch break that piqued my interest,鈥� Joshua told news.com.au, 鈥渉as resulted in a life-changing experience that I could only dream of.鈥�
The Beitz family moved to Kosrae to in the 1990s after parents Doug and Sally watched a documentary on Micronesia and began to wonder whether there was more to life than their nine-to-five careers.
鈥淲e figured that, if it all failed, we were young enough to start over again,鈥� said the Beitz family on their website. 鈥淥n the flip side, the prospect of getting to retirement and wishing we could turn back time 鈥� feeling the bitter sting of that regret 鈥� just frightened us so much we knew we had to take a chance.鈥�
When they first arrived on the island, Doug and Sally had three young children and no experience with resorts. On the resort鈥檚 website, the family writes that the first years on the island were more difficult than they are today 鈥� it was initially difficult to get many food items that the family now takes for granted, for example.
The family is currently working with Joshua to help him learn the ropes at the resort. When they leave, they will be walking away with $4.1 million in Australian dollars.
People all over the world have emailed, Doug and Sally told news.com.au, to thank them for the opportunity to dream afforded by the raffle.
Although the story of this island raffle seems to be rosy thus far, other similar contests have had very different outcomes.
One well-publicized essay writing contest that took place last year for the deed to a historic bed and breakfast in Lovell, Maine, .
The bed and breakfast鈥檚 owner, Janice Sage, took over the Center Lovell Inn from its previous owners, Bill and Susie Mosca, in 1993 through a similar contest. Last year, Ms. Sage decided that the time was right for her to move on from the Inn, so she instituted a contest of her own.
The rules were simple: Write a 200-word essay describing your qualifications as a bed and breakfast owner and mail in a $125 application fee. Well over 7,000 applicants sent Sage their applications, and in the end she chose Roger and Rose Adams, a couple from the US Virgin Islands who seemed to have the skills necessary to run a tight ship at the Inn.
That should have been the end of it, but the outcry at Sage鈥檚 selection was so great that the Maine State Police were forced to investigate, in order to determine that the contest was carried out in an above-board manner.
Unsuccessful applicants criticized the essay鈥檚 structure and alleged that Sage prearranged to have the Adams couple take over the Inn instead of selecting them on the strength of their essay.
The previous inn owners, the Moscas, also faced criticism when they released the results of their essay contest in 1993.
The (now former) owners of the Nautilus resort on Kosrae have not yet faced any backlash. The response has instead been largely positive.
鈥淲e鈥檝e been getting emails from people all around the world thanking us for giving them a dream and something to look forward to,鈥� Doug Beitz told news.com.au. 鈥淥ne lady who just emailed said she didn鈥檛 even care if the raffle was drawn 鈥� she was just happy to have something to look forward to.鈥�
