Uttam Parmar and family win £3.7m house after charity prize draw

A father from Leicestershire has won a £3.7 million luxury house in Cornwall after spending £25 on the latest Omaze Million Pound House Draw, media reports said.

Uttam Parmar, 58, said that the four-bedroom Cornish house, that looks over the Camel Estuary, was his favourite of all the prizes he had won so far.

He has been trying his luck on the California-based fundraising platform since it launched in 2020.

“We love Cornwall and being able to spend more time living there is a dream come true, so we are looking forward to moving. Who knows what the future holds? It’s exciting and unknown times," Parmar said.

“We were so excited that we might have won the grand prize, we called our son Aaron to see if the winning entry code matched ours – when he triple-checked the numbers, we must’ve burst his eardrums screaming down the phone."

According to reports, the Parmar family also received £50,000 in cash, as well as a mortgage-free home with all stamp duty and legal fees covered.

Omaze, a for-profit fundraising venture, said that the draw raised £1m for Blood Cancer UK apart from making Parmar and his wife, Raki, multi-millionaires.

Its other prizes include a trip to Italy with George Clooney or a movie premiere with Jennifer Lawrence.

Parmar said that the family has not yet decided whether to rent, sell or live in the property, adding that it was a 'life-changing win' for the family.

"We have a large extended family - so no doubt they'll all be asking to have their next birthday parties here," he added.

The latest draw was Omaze's ninth property prize in the UK which fetched a total of £6.75 million. Other properties won through draws were sold shortly afterwards, the Times reported.

James Oakes, chief international officer at Omaze, said: “We’re delighted that Uttam has won his dream home – and was able to contribute to this fantastic £1m raise for Blood Cancer UK in the process.”

Omaze has a UK-registered subsidiary and says it pays VAT on all sales, as well as stamp duty and corporation tax.