THE organisers of the £3m mega home raffle have said they will file the accounts “in line with statutory requirements.”

It has been revealed that the administration and publicity costs could have been as much as £600,000, based on the general figures released.

Around 30,000 tickets at £25 each were sold – not enough under the rules to trigger the house as a prize or an Aston Martin.

The competition therefore took in about £750,000 and the prize winner, Carina Alcock from Christchurch, took away £110,000.

The rules also stated that any replacement cash prize would amount to 75 per cent of the value of the tickets sold, after promotion costs – which therefore look to have been around £600,000.

Owner of the house in Ringwood, Mark Beresford said: “We fully complied with all of the competition rules and relevant laws in order to launch the competition.

“We calculated the prize exactly as described in the terms and conditions, which all entrants had to accept.

“We have spent huge sums of money on advertising that failed to cover its costs.

“The costs incurred were very high and began in 2016 with extensive legal advice and opinions about the interpretation of the rules covering prize draw competitions.

“By the time the competition was launched, costs were already into six figures – to do this properly is neither cheap nor for the faint of heart.

“We will file the accounts in line with statutory requirements.”

The raffle was regulated, overseen and approved by the Gambling Commission.

The government body licenses and regulates the people and businesses that provide gambling in Great Britain including the National Lottery.

Many people have criticised the couple for not warning the ticket threshold for the main prize would not be reached in the final days before the raffle closed.

A TV reporter went to the house on Thursday and spoke to the couple via the intercom at the front gate.

When asked if they had sympathy for people who expected to win the property or a substantial cash prize, Mr Beresford said: “Don’t you think £110,000 is substantial ?”

He added: “If we charged our time on an hourly rate we would be a little bit above minimum wage. I think you need to go away now or I call police.”

A PR company for the couple said accounts would be filed with Companies House.