Lottoland under fire in Australia

Gibraltar-based Lottoland, which allows its over 600,000 registered Aussie members to bet on outcomes of local and overseas lotteries, faced increased pressure this week with the news that federal government Communications Minister Mitch Fifield has written to its Northern Territory licensing jurisdiction demanding that the regulator justify its decision to licence the lotto reseller.

Lottoland is under attack from gambling giant Tatts, anti-gambling politicians like Nick Xenophon, and the governments of at least three Aussie provinces who claim that the newcomer is misleading Australian punters who think they are directly buying into lotteries; that it is a risk heavy enterprise that does not help charitable or social causes, and that it is adversely impacting the established lottery business, thereby depriving state governments of tax revenues.

After just a year of Aussie operations, Lottoland now finds itself the focus of a range of opponents who have funded a “Lottoland’s Gotta Go” campaign, which encourages other Australian states to follow the example of South Australia and ban Lottoland outright.

Lottoland pays an annual A$500,000 registration fee to the NT, and CEO Luke Brill claims that it is a legitimately competing business that pays its way in Australia.

One of Lottoland’s more vociferous critics is Senator Pauline Hanson, who leads the One Nation political party and was in Queensland this week on a fund raiser.

Unfortunately for Ms. Hanson, her local chapter became the main story when Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk accused One Nation of “sneakily” pricing its fund raiser tickets just A$5 under the limit over which political donors have to be declared in Queensland.

Hanson denied that her party had set the ticket price to get around local donation laws and keep donors anonymous.