Stressed Ray in high-stakes gamble: Hamilton came up with a novel plan to offload apartment.

A DESPERATE homeowner is launching a €20-a-go competition to get rid of his apartment after failing to find a buyer. Ray Hamilton bought the two-bedroom property in Santry, north Dublin, for €327,000 with a 100 per cent mortgage in March, 2006. But it has plummeted in value and is now worth just €240,000. The 28-year-old left Ireland two years ago for a new job in Switzerland, just before the property crash. When he began to struggle to pay his bills he tried selling the apartment, with no success, so he decided to take a huge gamble.

His new website, on which people can pay "€20 to enter a sudoku contest, goes live today. And the entrant who completes the puzzle and makes the lowest unique offer gets the apartment for no further outlay. Ray will pay taxes and legal fees on the deal, leaving the winner only €20 out of pocket for the apartment at Parklands, Northwood. He said: “To comply with Irish law I had to find a competition based on skill and logic, so I decided on one most people would know, sudoku. “To ensure I wasn’t running a lottery, I needed a way to pick a winner, a way everyone could see and I could publish results. “I researched it and found the lowest unique bid idea to be the simplest and most transparent.”

Ray, who works for a chemicals company, hopes to attract 20,000 sudoku players which would bring in €400,000. But with a July 31 cut-off date for entries, he realises the gamble could also leave him with a big loss. He admitted: “It’s taken me 18 months to get this far. “I feel like I’ve climbed the mountain, now I just need to get to the other side.”

More information can be found at www.20euroticket.com

NEWS OF THE WORLD, Kieran McDaid