Raffle Prize: A Multimillion-dollar Home in Fort Lauderdale

Feeling like 2010 just might be your year? Mike Brannon is hoping that you’ll take a gamble to find out.

News of desperate homeowners looking to unload their depreciating properties through the ingenuity of raffle tickets surfaced in 2008 and at the time the masses were enthralled by such a creative way to buck the system. However, for some, including Mike Brannon, difficulty implementing such a  plan of prosperous attack also surfaced. Originally the South Florida homeowner put his Fort Lauderdale estate on the raffle market, with tickets going for only $10 a piece in the hopes of selling at least 300,000 chances for a win. He even enlisted the help of the always-out-there basketball star, Dennis Rodman. But on December 25, only $800,000 had been raised, which included a price hike up to $30 per ticket and equated to a total of 70,000 tickets being sold. That means good news for those with beginner’s luck or who are armed with experience gambling techniques because Brannon has now extended the raffle for a few more undefined months.

According to the Sun Sentinel, “Brannan, an investor, bought the home four years ago for $2.35 million. He said his income has been cut drastically because of the recession, and he’s struggling to maintain the property at 2824 NE 36th St., in the Coral Ridge Country Club.” Though St. Simeon Church first agreed to partner as the nonprofit beneficiary in the raffle, when they pulled out, The Mission of St. Francis, a Fort Lauderdale charity that helps alcoholics and drug addicts agreed to step up and take the plate.