Lottoland's 'desperate' profit-sharing proposal 'as dodgy as its business', newsagents say

ONLINE gambling company Lottoland has made a last-ditch profit-sharing offer to Australian newsagents in a bid to stave off execution.

The Gibraltar-based bookmaker, which allows Australians to bet on the outcome of international lotteries, will be banned from operating in the country under legislation introduced to parliament by the Turnbull Government last week, following a year-long lobbying campaign by the newsagents industry.

In full-page newspaper ads on Thursday, Lottoland chief executive Luke Brill offered newsagents 20 per cent of the profits generated from every bet they refer to Lottoland, which could be worth “thousands of additional dollars” a month.

But the Australian Lottery and Newsagents Association has slammed Lottoland’s offer, saying it was “as dodgy as its business” and “nothing more than a desperate PR manoeuvre”.

“As you would be aware, the government announced last week its intention to effectively ban online betting on lotteries and keno, a move supposedly designed to protect newsagents,” Mr Brill said in the open letter.

“The reality is that the proposed legislation could make life even more difficult for newsagents while reducing choice for hundreds of thousands of customers.

“To be clear: Lottoland Australia does not offer betting services on Australian lotteries. We sell no products that newsagents sell. We do not compete directly with you and we have no intention of doing so in future.

“In fact, no one has come up with credible evidence that actually proves that Lottoland Australia has taken sales away from newsagents. We want to partner with newsagents to provide our customers with greater choice, in a way that will be fair and profitable for your business.”

Mr Brill said newsagents should be worried about the threat of Tatts which was “continuing to promote the digital sale of its products, such as Powerball and OZLotto”.

“According to Tatts’ own figures, their digital sales increased by a massive 30 per cent in the half year to December 31 — money Tatts has diverted away from newsagents and other small businesses,” he said.

“If passed, the legislation proposed by Canberra will cement Tatts’ monopoly, which is not good news for newsagents — or for customers.”

Lottoland said it has paid out more than $29 million in winnings since 2016, including one $1.3 million winner last year.

In a statement, Australian Lottery and Newsagents Association CEO Adam Joy said Lottoland “needs the goodwill that newsagents have worked hard to achieve”. “We would suggest that newsagents continue this goodwill by only offering products that are highly regulated and trusted,” Mr Joy said.

“As we stated last year, this is an offer to make commercial gains from newsagents. It is a last-ditch attempt at survival and comes as the federal government moves to protect punters from a high-risk business.

“Why would newsagents align themselves with a business that is free of consumer protections and does not always deliver what it promotes?”

Mr Joy said newsagents would be acting as cheap advertising for a betting product that dose not always pay out the advertised amount. “This offer is in line with Lottoland’s bait-and-switch model,” he said.

“Lottoland have spent years denigrating newsagents, and a partnership requires trust. They have repeatedly said that they are not targeting the customers of newsagents, yet this idea along with its entire business model does exactly that.

“The negative impact of Lottoland has never only been to the more than 4000 small businesses and their 15,000-plus employees that are regulated lottery retailers.

“Lottoland negatively affects the consumers who have been misled by its online schemes and the community that have been concerned about the impact on state tax revenues.”

Last week, Communications Minister Mitch Fifield said synthetic lottery websites had “generated considerable community concern”.

“The government has formed the view that permitting betting on these services, also known as ‘synthetic’ lotteries, undermines the longstanding community acceptance of official lottery and keno products,” he said.

Mr Fifield said the amendment to the Interactive Gambling Act, which is still before the House of Representatives, would kick in six months after passage to ensure businesses “have an appropriate transition period within which to cease their activity”.

frank.chung@news.com.au

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