News Corp. gives space to Lottoland to make their case

Oh please, seriously? News Corp. gave space to Lottoland CEO Luke Brill to spin more in an effort to keep their business in Australia viable. This appeared in The Daily Telegraph on the back of support from News Corp. on Sky News. Why is the company supporting Lottoland?

Here is Brill’s opinion piece from The Daily Telegraph:

OPINION

Lottoland boss says Aussies will lose out with proposed government betting legislation

IF YOU believe the politicians and bureaucrats in Canberra, Australians should not be allowed to bet on what the federal government describes as “synthetic” lotteries, such as those offered by Lottoland, where you can bet on the outcome of overseas lotteries.

And yet, if you are 18 or over, you can go into your local TAB and bet big dollars on an animated racing game offered by Tabcorp.

The recent announcement by the government of plans to ban “synthetic” lotteries means that Australians won’t be able to wager on overseas lotteries like the US Powerball or EuroMillions through Lottoland — but having a punt on cartoon horses running imaginary races on fictionalised tracks is somehow perfectly fine.

Nothing “synthetic” about that!

As our American friends would say, what baloney.

Let’s face it.

Lottoland CEO Luke Brill says his betting agency doesn’t offer products sold by newsagencies.

The government’s proposal looks like a ham-fisted and totally unnecessary move designed to protect and entrench the monopoly currently enjoyed by Tabcorp-Tatts, which by their own admission spent some $5 million of shareholders’ money last year trying to run us out of town.

If the legislation is passed by Parliament, Tabcorp-Tatts will end up controlling the entire lottery market — online and offline.

This will mean reduced choice for hundreds of thousands of Australian customers who enjoy a flutter on the results of overseas lotteries via Lottoland.

And it means the little guys — the newsagents — will be at the mercy of this huge monopoly.

Ironically, the government claimed it was acting in the interests of newsagents when justifying the legislation, even though there is not a shred of evidence to suggest Lottoland harms newsagents.

Lottoland does not offer products sold by newsagents.

In fact, we want to partner with newsagents and pay them for promoting our products and referring customers to our services.

To that end, we are offering newsagents an 11 per cent revenue share on all bets that are referred to us.

This is significantly higher than what Tabcorp-Tatts offers newsagents for in-store purchases only, and is a whole lot more than what newsagents get from Tabcorp-Tatts’ burgeoning online revenue, which is, well, nothing.

We believe in giving our customers more rather than fewer choices. We believe in a level-playing field that encourages rather than restricts competition and innovation. This is an important fight for our customers, for competition, and for newsagents, that we have to win.

Lottoland ought be judged buy their actions. Think back to their TV campaign when they launched into Australia, attacking newsagents mercilessly, hurtfully and deliberately. Shame on them.

In my opinion, News Corp. owes newsagents an explanation for their apparent support of Lottoland. The airtime and space go beyond free speech and giving a fair go. Newsagents have not been given this by the company on this issue.

Click here to see why I think newsagents have nothing to gain from a relationship with Lottoland.