An Austrian businessman is raffling off his luxury home and will use the proceeds to help fund microcredits in the Third World, the daily Der Standard reported on Monday.
Karl Rabeder, 47, is selling his luxury 321-square metre (3,455-square feet) villa with swimming pool, sauna and spectacular mountain views in Tyrol, valued at 1.6 million euros (2.2 million dollars), via a lottery, he told the newspaper.
Some 21,999 lottery tickets priced at just 99 euros apiece are on sale.
Rabeder will then invest the proceeds in his own non-profit organisation, MyMicroCredit, which he set up a few months ago.
The businessman, who made his fortune from interior furnishings and accessories, already sold his business in 2004.
"For a long time I believed that more wealth and luxury automatically meant more happiness. Now it's time to sell my house, so I can be 'free' for my new life," he told the newspaper.
From now on, he would live and work from a modest rented apartment in Innsbruck, he said.
A number of Austrians have raffled off their homes recently, as they see it as a way of securing their desired asking price if they fail to find a buyer by more traditional methods.
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(Agencies)
據奧地利日報《標準報》本周一報導，該國一位商人將抽彩出售他的豪宅，並將所得款項用於在第三世界國家設立小額信貸。
現年47歲的卡爾•拉伯德爾在接受報紙採訪時稱，他將要抽彩出售的豪宅位於蒂羅爾，是一座面積達321平方米（合3455平方英尺）並帶有遊泳池和桑拿浴室的別墅，從那裡還可以觀賞到引人入勝的山間風光。該別墅價值160萬歐元（合220萬美元）。
此次共設立有21999張彩票，每張僅售99歐元，目前部分彩票已經開始出售。
之後拉伯德爾將把所得款項捐給他自己在幾個月前設立的非盈利組織「我的小額信貸」。
靠經營室內家具陳設及相關用品發家致富的這位商人已於2004年將生意出售。
他在接受報紙採訪時說：「我曾經一度認為更多的財富和奢華的生活當然可以令人更快樂，但現在是時候賣掉我的房子了，這樣我才可以『自由』地享受我的新生活。」
他在因斯布魯克租賃了一套條件一般的公寓，並表示以後將在那裡生活和工作。
最近有很多奧地利人抽彩出售房屋，因為他們認為如果無法通過更傳統的方式找到買主，抽彩出售可以確保自己得到理想要價。
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