Controversial lottery-betting service Lottoland described Australian legislation that will in effect banish it from the country as "unnecessary and misguided", while newsagents and lottery sellers have welcomed the decision.
The Australian government on Tuesday said it would introduce new legislation to Parliament to prohibit so-called "synthetic lotteries", in which gamblers can bet on foreign lottery outcomes rather than having to buy tickets in any draw.
The bill, to be introduced by Communications Minister Mitch Fifield, will also ban betting on the outcomes of keno products.
Australian commercial TV broadcasters said the move to ban Lottoland, a prominent advertiser, would have a "significant impact" on their operations.
"We are disappointed at the total lack of consultation on this," a spokeswoman for Free TV Australia said.
Gibraltar-based Lottoland has been the target of efforts by Australian lotteries giant Tatts and industry groups representing thousands of the country's newsagencies. They claim Lottoland's "fake" lottery service has been cutting into their livelihoods and eroding tens of millions of dollars in tax revenue that would otherwise have paid for schools, hospitals and roads.
The campaign dubbed "Lottoland's Gotta Go" included newspaper and television advertisements, and large posters in newsagencies Australia-wide. It let to governments in several states flagging plans to restrict digital services that allowed betting on lottery outcomes.
In response to the opposition, Lottoland agreed to stop taking bets on Australian lotteries and now offers wagers on foreign lotteries only.
Lottoland's chief executive, Luke Brill, on Tuesday criticised the new legislation, saying it no longer offered "betting opportunities on any Australian lotteries... so our offering does not have a direct impact on newsagents".
"On the contrary, we want to work with newsagents to provide customers with greater choice and even better services, which have the potential to be highly beneficial for individual newsagents," Mr Brill said.
"While we understand the concerns expressed by some newsagents, the proposed legislation is both misguided and unnecessary."
Lottoland, which has about 650,000 registered customers in Australia, said it would work closely with regulators and all political parties to achieve a "satisfactory outcome".
Senator Fifield said the Turnbull government had formed the view that permitting betting on so-called synthetic lotteries undermined the "long-standing community acceptance of official lottery and keno products".
"These products enjoy community support as they generate an income stream for small retail businesses and make a significant contribution, through licence fees and taxation, to the provision of public services and infrastructure by state and territory governments," he said.
"Online service offering products that involve betting on lottery outcomes... have generated considerable community concern."
Australian Lottery and Newsagents Association chief Adam Joy said "dangerous sites" like Lottoland came at a significant cost to state taxes and family-run small businesses. He welcomed the introduction of the bill to ban lottery-betting.
"This will be welcome news for the consumers who have been misled by these online schemes, the communities that have been concerned about the impact on state tax revenues and the more than 4000 small businesses and their 15,000-plus employees that are regulated lottery retailers," Mr Joy said.
The legislation to ban lottery betting, if it succeeds, would take effect six months after it passes parliament.
Thanks to dannyct for the tip.
As of now feeling indifferent about this. Almost seems draconian to me, but perhaps many were ripped off, IDK. Let the folks spend the money the way they choose fit.
Remember the Iraqi that won the Oregon lottery through a lottery buying service? Luckily he was able to stay anonymous.
Lottoland may have more plans for expansion. Time to nip it in the bud.
Lottoland is a different animal than the ticket service that sold the Iraqi the winning Oregon lottery ticket. Unlike that service, Lottoland does not actually purchase lottery tickets from a legitimate lottery retailer. Instead, they buy nothing except "insurance". So when you use Lottoland, you are not actually playing the lottery (which is why the article refers to it being a "fake" lottery).
Everyone has to make their own choice on these things, but personally I would never use a service like Lottoland. Have you ever heard of an insurance company that would pay out a $500 million Powerball jackpot? I haven't — and I bet I never will.
Can you imagine someone "buying Powerball tickets" for years from Lottoland (in quotes because they are not actually buying real lottery tickets) and then one day they hit a $500 million jackpot? What do you think would happen next? Do you think some mid-sized Internet company located in Gibraltar actually has $500 million lying around to pay out the winner? Do you think any "insurance company" they supposedly hire would have $500 million lying around to pay out either? (I wonder if I will be able to take the "cash option" — lol!)
I have always drawn a stark distinction between lottery butler services (like the one that purchased the Oregon winner) and these "fake" lottery companies that supposedly buy insurance. The butler services operate legally in the United States and elsewhere (as proved by the payouts in Oregon and more recently in Florida), but companies like Lottoland are nothing more than online gambling. Lot of people do online gambling, but I personally would put my trust in a legitimate lottery ticket over an offshore gambling operation.
Crikey Mates !!! Perhaps you chaps need a tinny or 2, maybe even a slab, meet with a nice sheila and consider a good "Two Up" for the day.
Thank you for educating me. I did not know anything about Lottoland, a big time ripoff.
Being retired had given 1/2 a thought to being a purchaser for one of those butler services...then again No. Wouldn't want to feel obligated to buy tons of tickets and not being able to travel or just enjoy myself!
Congratulations to you Bleudog101 for retiring. That was a noble goal for you and you achieved it.
Enjoy every day and win at MM & PB.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prize_indemnity_insurance
More than likely, if you see a prize offered at a game event, i.e. win $50,000.00, these are covered by Prize Indemnity Insurance.
It's kind of proof that Insurance is Gambling.
The point of lotteries is to raise revenue for states. These "lotteries" don't give any revenue to states.
+1 Todd
Many other companies act like lottoland, playhugelottos, multilotto. They could also - in case of selling a winning jp ticket- claim they sold say like 10 tickets with same numbers and only be obliged to pay out a 1/10 of the prize. No one could checkt that this is true because they wont show the bets that are made in advance.