I am grateful for the opportunity attend the lottery forum and luncheon hosted last Friday by ALNA at Crown in Perth.
This was an honest event. I call it that because at its core were presentations from newsagents about the bad experiences with Lotterywest over the last few years. Their heartfelt stories made the situation real.
There was tremendous kudos for ALNA and their considerably work supporting newsagents, lobbying politicians to bring about change and their support of newsagents if what has been a difficult time.
There was equally tremendous support for Mark McGowan, the new Premier of WA – for the swift action his government has taken to deliver on their election promises about driving change at Lotterywest. His speech demonstrated a good understanding of the challenges newsagents had been facing.
I was seated next to the new CEO of Lotterywest. We had a good chat about the challenging situation inherited and the complexities of bringing cultural change to the organisation. Lotterywest has been on a path for the last few years that is now set to change, thanks to the change of government.
I also had a good chat with the Premier about what his government has inherited in WA. His appreciation for small business is encouraging for all WA small business owners.
In his speech, the Premier also spoke specifically about Lottoland and the nature of the product. The newsagents in the room liked what they heard.
Both the Premier and the new CEO of Lotterywest have a commitment to small business and, in particular, family businesses, like newsagents. Newsagent access to them is at a level I have never seen for our channel in the past. And, as I noted above, this is due to the work of ALNA in WA.
The luncheon is a credit to everyone involved. Many newsagents I spoke with told of how relieved they felt now compared to earlier this year when they though all hope was gone. The optimism in the room was wonderful, and exciting.
What has happened in WA is a lesson for newsagents across Australia of what can be achieved by working together relentlessly, with focus, on a issue that decision makers can fix.
I was at the luncheon as my newsagency software company was a sponsor of the event and in support of the many newsXpress members who make up the WA newsagent community.
That is great for WA newsagents. I remember being at conferences over 10 years ago and being envious of the relationship between LotteryWest and WA Newsagents. If only Tatts valued us as a stakeholder and visa versa then with realistic expectations we could move forward together.
On another topic, it will be interesting to see how Tabcorp and Clubs NSW reacts to the new Lottoland push into Keno. Like Tatts is for some Newsagents, Keno is for some clubs.
10 years ago the relationship WA newsagents had with Lotterywest was fantastic. 3 years ago under new leadership, it all went down the toilet. Allegations of bullying and decisions that showed a complete lack of consideration for the retail network were commonplace.
3 years ago I was also disillusioned with ALNA, or the ANF as it was then, and not really sure of what they were doing to assist us and our channel, and my plan was to cancel my membership and use my fees elsewhere.
However, the effort and work ALNA, and particularly ALNA in WA, has put into lobbying politicians pre the last state election, collating and presenting data evidencing retailers concerns and pursuing Lotterywest to make them accountable for the poor engagement and poor decisions for the retail network has been no less than outstanding. Real change has happened and is continuing to happen. To get direct access to the Premier is unheard of.
It has been a shining example of what we can achieve when newsagents collectively take an interest, stand up to be counted and get behind our representative body to lobby, and lobby hard and relentlessly, to achieve change.
The $65 a month I pay ALNA for what they have achieved for not only my business, but the industry in WA, is now money well spent IMO.
Have to agree Glenn. ALNA has definitely shown it’s worth to WA retailers. An election a change of Government and a state owned Lotterywest worked to their advantage but top marks to them for seeing the opportunity to effect change and taking it.
If I ran a newsagent in WA that sold Lotterywest products, I would be lobbying the new government to do what they did in SA and ban Lottoland from the state completly. They could even use the “Lotterywest provides lots of money to charity and Lottoland is taking money away from that” angle as political justification…
The Premier said that is his focus Jonathan. He referenced South Australia and what they have done.