Lottoland offers Aussie newsagents 10% of online earnings

Lottoland Australia will offer newsagents a 10% cut of online revenues in a bid to alleviate tension between the bet-on-lotteries operator and small business owners.

Lottoland’s 600,000 strong customer base will be asked to nominate a local newsagents when signing up, which will then receive 10% of revenues of all online bets wagered by that punter.

In return for a cut, Lottoland will ask newsagents to advertise the brand in store, but the firm has said that advertisements will be limited to foreign lotteries and that newsagents will not be asked to promote online sales for lottery tickets they sell in store.

Lottoland has come under fire in Australia thanks to the “Lottoland’s Gotta Go” campaign backed by Tatts Group, which claimed that 4,000 small business were under threat.

Newsagents and local politicians have complained the firm’s offering confuses customers into thinking they are buying an ordinary lottery ticket, rather than betting on a lottery draw.

Several states have also pledged to ban the bet-on lotteries operator, claiming they are losing tax revenue.

But Lottoland Australia CEO Luke Brill said he is keen to mend the divide between Lottoland and local business owners having met with Newsagents Association chief Adam Joy on Monday.

Lottoland Australia CEO Luke Brill

“Lottoland has listened to Australian newsagents and this model is recognition that we need to work together,” said Brill.

“Newsagents will always have a longstanding cultural link to lotteries, but as it stands there is no infrastructure for them to take advantage of overseas lotteries and online betting and this needs to change.”

“Every bet on an overseas lottery is incremental revenue, part of which can now flow fairly to newsagents.

“This model complements in-store lottery purchases and opens a channel for these businesses to benefit from the emerging pool of online only punters.”

Lottoland had previously called for a nationwide Point of Consumption tax on its earnings after threats had been made to ban the operator in certain states, and Brill reiterated this point once again, hitting back at Tatts Group for its anti-Lottoland campaign.

“The shift to online betting is a reality. While companies like Tatts are busy using newsagents as pawns in a campaign to maintain their monopoly, we are proposing a model that puts cash back into small businesses.

“We must be the only business in Australia asking governments to tax us but we’re doing this so we can help fund much needed community projects. We’re willing to pay, we just need the tax infrastructure that makes this possible.”

“Meetings with all levels of government have been promising and have helped Lottoland overcome the misinformation spread by Tatts’ $5m smear campaign.”