A little-known company ('The Lottery Office' says it has been flooded with new customers over the past) is offering Aussies the chance to take part in AU$1 billion US Powerball draw despite a government crackdown.
'The Lottery Office' says it has been flooded with new customers over the past week eager to enter Thursday’s $US750 million ($1.06 billion) US Powerball jackpot, the fourth largest in the country’s history.
The ALNA (Australian Lottery and Newsagents Association) had complained to the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) about Lottoland’s adjusted model “and the way that in every practical sense, not much seems to have changed when it comes to the effect of their product offering, their advertising and their name when it comes to potentially confusing consumers”. “This fails the reasonable person test and the ACCC is investigating the issues we have highlighted,” he said. “Innovation is important, but it cannot be at the expense of compliance with laws that bring consumer protections.” An ACCC spokesman said: “The ACCC is looking at Lottoland’s ‘jackpot betting’ product as it relates to the Australian Consumer Law. We are unable to make any further comment at this time.”
“We had our biggest day ever on Sunday and broke that again on Monday,” Ms Mundey said.
Australian Lottery and Newsagents Association chief executive Ben Kearney said his members had raised concerns about The Lottery Office, “which appears to be some sort of new carriage service for foreign lottery products”.
“We are seeking some advice on this model and we will be speaking with regulators about it,” Mr Kearney said. “We do have initial concerns that the model could raise questions under some state and federal acts that in some cases exclude certain lotteries like foreign lotteries from being sold.”
In January, Lottoland replaced its previous offering with a financial markets-based betting product called “jackpot betting”, while retaining its lotto-themed imagery and product names — prompting an investigation by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
Lottoland chief executive Luke Brill said the company “no longer offers lottery betting products, in line with current legislation”.
“Results of our jackpot betting products are derived from stock market indices, an approved betting contingency under our sports bookmaking business, not lotteries,” Mr Brill said.
“Placing a bet on a financial market is nothing new and has been done for years. In fact, all the major online bookmakers offer betting markets on interest rates and financial market indices. In the simplest terms, jackpot betting has no relation to lottery betting because punters are betting on a different event or contingency.”
Mr Kearney said the ALNA had complained to the ACCC about Lottoland’s adjusted model “and the way that in every practical sense, not much seems to have changed when it comes to the effect of their product offering, their advertising and their name when it comes to potentially confusing consumers”.
“This fails the reasonable person test and the ACCC is investigating the issues we have highlighted,” he said. “Innovation is important, but it cannot be at the expense of compliance with laws that bring consumer protections.”
An ACCC spokesman said: “The ACCC is looking at Lottoland’s ‘jackpot betting’ product as it relates to the Australian Consumer Law. We are unable to make any further comment at this time.”