Lottoland Australia says it has documents that show the trade group the Australian Lottery and Newsagents Association is facing financial trouble and represents much fewer agents than it claims.
The group, which says it represents 4,000 independent lottery operators in the country, has pushed for the ban on synthetic lotteries—where bets are placed on the outcome of international lotteries—saying they hurt their members.
In March, the federal government introduced a ban on synthetic lotteries which would block Australians from betting on international lotteries.
Lottoland now says it has uncovered documents that call into question the financial situation of the trade group and claim the group has mislead the public on how many lottery agents it represents, according to a report at igamingbusiness.com.
Lottoland says it obtained the documents from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and among other things show that the group only has 707 paid members.
“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,” said Luke Brill, chief executive of Lottoland Australia inn a press release. “According to ALNA’s own auditors, the organization 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.
“We’re shocked and disappointed to find out that a body that the government believes has over 4,000 newsagents nationally as members has in fact only 707 paid members—about 80 percent less than claimed,” Brill said. “This raises major questions about the true intent of ALNA and whether it has misled not just the government and others MPs, but whether it has also misled the public.”
Brill also said the group was acting against the interests of newsagents by advocating for laws that would give Tatts Group an “unprecedented monopoly”.
“Rather than address the shocking state of its financial affairs, the ALNA has inexplicably taken part in an A$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 said. “Given these revelations, we are asking the government to put a stop to the planned legislation and start listening to newsagents on the ground.”
