Lottoland appeals for another look at secondary lottery ban

Luke Brill, CEO of the Australian operations of ‘synthetic’ lottery Lottoland has expressed serious concerns regarding the credibility of the Australian Lottery and Newsagents Association (ALNA), which has been an aggressive campaigner against his company, leading to last month’s planned government ban (see previous reports).

In conjunction with his concerns over ALNA, Brill has appealed to the federal government to reconsider its position on secondary lotteries.

Brill’s broadside on ALNA is based on documents filed with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) which indicate that there are serious doubts regarding ALNA’s financial viability and its numerical membership, raising fears that the Association may have misled the public and government.

Specifically, Brill claims the documents indicate that paid membership of ALNA comprises just 707 retail lottery ticket sellers instead of the 4,000 the Association has claimed, and more seriously that the organisation’s financial situation is a reason for concern, indicating that the parent company behind ALNA is “facing financial ruin”.

“These ASIC documents raise serious questions about the financial situation at ALNA and its ability to continue to operate as a going concern, let alone to represent the interest of its members,” Brill said.

“According to ALNA’s own auditors, the organisation is in financial disarray, with the auditors telling ASIC that there is ‘significant uncertainty’ as to whether the group will continue as a going concern.”

Brill expressed shock and disappointment at discovering that an organisaton believed to have 4,000 members across Australia has in fact only a paid membership of 707 – about 80 percent less that that claimed by ALNA.

“This raises major questions about the true intent of ALNA and whether it has misled not just the Government and other MPs, but whether it has also misled the public,” Brill charged, alleging that ALNA acted against the interests of newsagents by campaigning for laws that prejudiced Lottoland and could hand Tatts lottery division an “unprecedented monopoly”.

“Rather than address the shocking state of its financial affairs, the ALNA has inexplicably taken part in an Aus$5 million lobbying campaign to convince the government to ban online lottery betting, which will leave newsagents at the mercy of a Tabcorp monopoly,” Brill claimed.

“Given these revelations, we are asking the government to put a stop to the planned legislation and start listening to newsagents on the ground.”