A WIDOWER who decided to raffle his £700,000 house to raise money for two charities has called off the draw.

Mel Yates, from Gorsley, near Ross-on-Wye, had 35,000 tickets to sell and hoped to raise hundreds of thousands of pounds for Marie Curie Cancer Care and The Injured Jockey’s Fund.

The charities were chosen because his late wife Tessa was treated by Marie Curie Cancer Care nurses and the couple shared an affection for horses.

The winner of the competition would have won the 66-year-old’s Hillside Cottage home as well as his Mercedes car.

Tickets cost £25 with every pound going to charity, but despite initial interest from all over the world, sales started to fall to such an extent that he said he has no other option than to close the raffle.

“My ticket sales have relied almost solely on credit card payments, but over the last four months these sales have dwindled and I have only just found that my credit card processor’s acquiring bank Barclays has blocked payments to online gambling sites in 34 countries and I strongly believe that it is only a matter of time before the UK is added to the list,” said Mr Yates.

“I was never notified and only heard about it after someone in Spain enquired why their card had been declined.

“This action has decimated my ticket sales and I now realise that it will be impossible for me to reach my target.

“I have spoken to the Gambling Commission and they have advised me to stop the competition.”

Mr Yates added that the terms and conditions of the competition means that a cash prize is expected to be awarded at the end of the year and his team are in the process of auditing how many tickets were sold.

“We will consider refunding people if we didn’t think it was worth the trouble to hold a cash draw, but the odds are that the competition will be converted into one,” he said.

“There is still a lot of money to be won and will be a nice early Christmas present for someone.

“I understand that there was a commercial element involved, but all of the money was in the hands of the solicitors and I was basically a ticket vendor.

“All I wanted was to raise money for two wonderful charities and the majority of letters I received were really supportive. I’m just gutted that it has come to this.”