GAMBLING INSIDER

Gibraltar based lottery betting company Lottoland may soon find itself banned in three Australian states following concerns that the international business is taking away revenue from locally based lottery businesses.

According to reports in the Herald Sun newspaper, the governments of Victoria, Western Australia and Queensland are all considering potential ways of cracking down on Lottoland’s operations, after concerns that the companies’ aggressive business practices may be purposefully misleading customers.

These reports emerged after the Australian Lottery and Newsagents association announced the launch of a nationwide campaign which is calling for Lottoland’s services to be prohibited to safeguard the future of more than 4,000 locally owned lottery businesses. The new campaign includes leaflets, television advertisements and is supported by a number of news and lottery outlets based in Australia.

Prominent supporters of the campaign include local lottery operator Tatts group, who would potentially benefit from Lottoland’s exclusion from the Lottery market.

Lottoland’s operations have been linked to a major dip in tax revenue from local lotteries, with more than $90m worth of revenue expected to be lost over the next three years in the state of Victoria alone.

Adam Joy, the CEO of the Australian Lottery and Newsagent’s association said that the campaign was a response to many Australians being “very confused” about the companies betting model, which led to many individuals thinking that they were entering a lottery.

Joy added: “We have had positive engagement from both federal and state governments about the impacts of lotto betting on small businesses and their communities.”

Lottoland does not currently pay any taxes in any of the three states which are now proposing to ban its operations, impacting state wide tax revenues, so in an effort to appease its detractors, Lottoland’s Australian Chief Executive recently voiced his support for the implementation of a 15% point of consumption tax which is currently being discussed at both federal and state level.

At present, only Western Australia has confirmed that it will implement the 15% tax rate, making it among the most expensive regulated jurisdictions in which to conduct gambling business.