Peter Judkins, the head of the Victorian Lottery Agents Association who publicly ridiculed me when I expressed concern that Tattersalls may lose instant scratch tickets to Intralot, has gone to ground. I contacted him for a comment now that my prediction came true – to see what his next plan was. Nothing. By being publicly silent through government consideration of the tender for lottery licences in Victoria, Judkins, his association and VANA have a lot to answer for.
The horse has bolted. Newsagents in Victoria look set to lose instant scratch ticket sales. I hold the associations accountable for this. Their public silence stopped newsagents taking action. We can now see that their strategy failed. Those on a salary in associations are okay, they still get paid. Their members lose out. But, oh, I forgot, we are not supposed to criticise dud association decisions. They are part of our fraternity. What utter nonsense.
Each association employee who recommended, supported and managed the poor campaign earlier this year ought to tender their resignation.
I am fired up about this because it would have been easy to fix – engage newsagents about the risk early on, get them to engage their customers. Even if it did not alter the decision we, collectively, would have felt as if we did something other than lying over and playing dead.